The Goldberger-Treiman relation for heavy-light systems is derived in the context of a quark model. As a paradigmatic example, the case of $\overline{D}\to {\overline{D}}^{\prime }\pi$ is studied in detail. The fundamental role played by the pion two-component wave function, in the context of the Salpeter equation, is emphasized.

• Received 9 November 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.75.036001