  We propose studying the mechanism of factorization in exclusive decays of the
form B->D(*)X by examining the differential decay rate as a function of the
invariant mass of the light hadronic state X. If factorization works primarily
due to the large N_c limit then its accuracy is not expected to decrease as the
X invariant mass increases. However, if factorization is mostly a consequence
of perturbative QCD then the corrections should grow with the X invariant mass.
Combining data for hadronic tau decays and semileptonic B decays allows tests
of factorization to be made for a variety of final states. We discuss the
examples of B->D^*\pi^+\pi^-\pi^-\pi^0 and B->D^*\omega\pi^-. The mode
B->D^*\omega\pi^- will allow a precision study of the dependence of the
corrections to factorization on the invariant mass of the light hadronic state.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology