We present the first lattice-QCD determination of the form factors describing the semileptonic decays $Lambda_b to Lambda_c^*(2595)ell^-bar{ u}$ and $Lambda_b to Lambda_c^*(2625)ell^-bar{ u}$, where the $Lambda_c^*(2595)$ and $Lambda_c^*(2625)$ are the lightest charm baryons with $J^P=frac12^-$ and $J^P=frac32^-$, respectively. These decay modes provide new opportunities to test lepton flavor universality and also play an important role in global analyses of the strong interactions in $bto c$ semileptonic decays. We determine the full set of vector, axial vector, and tensor form factors for both decays, but only in a small kinematic region near the zero-recoil point. The lattice calculation uses three different ensembles of gauge-field configurations with $2+1$ flavors of domain-wall fermions, and we perform extrapolations of the form factors to the continuum limit and physical pion mass. We present Standard-Model predictions for the differential decay rates and angular observables. In the kinematic region considered, the differential decay rate for the $frac12^-$ final state is found to be approximately 2.5 times larger than the rate for the $frac32^-$ final state. We also test the compatibility of our form-factor results with zero-recoil sum rules.
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