  We present a comprehensive calculation of the energies, splittings and
electromagnetic decay rates of the bottom charmed meson system. Our calculated
result for the ground state lifetime is 0.38 \pm 0.03 ps, in good agreement
with the recent CDF measurement. In order to incorporate running coupling
constant effects, we choose Richardson's potential for the central potential
and take the spin-dependent potentials from the radiative one-loop expressions
of Pantaleone, Tye and Ng. The effects of a nonperturbative spin-orbit
potential are also included. Our parameters are determined from the low-lying
levels of the upsilon system (avg. dev. of 4.3 MeV) and charmonium (avg. dev.
of 19.9 MeV). We carry out detailed comparison with the earlier work of Eichten
and Quigg and lattice calculations. Our predicted result for the ground state
energy is 6286_{-6}^{+15} MeV. Our results are generally in agreement with the
earlier calculations. However, we find the two lowest 1^{+} states to be very
close to the j-j limit, in agreement with the NRQCD lattice calculations, but
at odds with many of the earlier phenomenological calculations. The
implications of this finding for the photon spectra of the 1P and 2S states are
discussed in some detail. Some strategies for the observation of these states
are discussed, and a table of their cascades to the ground state are presented.
