Chiral Perturbation Theory for Vector Mesons

We derive a heavy vector-meson chiral Lagrangian in which the vector mesons are treated as heavy static matter fields. The unknown couplings of the chiral Lagrangian are further related using the $1/N_c$ expansion. Chiral perturbation theory is applied to the vector-meson mass matrix. At one loop there are large corrections to the individual vector-meson masses, but the singlet-octet mixing angle remains almost unchanged. The parity-violating $s$-wave $\phi \to \rho \pi$ weak decay amplitude is derived in the combined chiral and large $N_c$ limits. Rare $\phi$ decays provide a sensitive test of nonleptonic neutral current structure.