Note on the slope parameter of the baryonic Λb→Λc Isgur–Wise function

Abstract Using the framework of the Heavy Quark Effective Theory we have re-analyzed the Isgur–Wise function describing semileptonic Λ b → Λ c decays in the QCD sum rule approach. The slope parameter of the Isgur–Wise function is found to be ρ 2 = 1.35 ± 0.13 , which is consistent with an experimental measurement and a lattice calculation. To O ( 1 / m b , 1 / m c ) of the heavy quark expansion the integrated Λ b decay width is used to extract the CKM matrix element V c b for which we obtain a value of | V c b | = 0.041 ± 0.004 ± 0.001 in excellent agreement with the value of | V c b | determined from semileptonic B → D ∗ decays.