Searching for gluonic excitations —The Hall D project at Jlab

Hybrid mesons are produced when the gluonic degrees of freedom are excited within normal mesons. A large fraction of these gluonic excitations can be identified using unique combinations of spin, parity and charge conjugation (J ^PC ) quantum numbers which are not allowed for ordinary $q\bar q$ bound states. Photon beams are expected to be particularly favorable for the production of such states, which are required by the quark confining mechanism of QCD. Mapping out the spectrum and decay modes of these hybrid mesons is the necessary first step in understanding the nature of confinement. Plans are underway at Jefferson Lab to upgrade the energy of the electron accelerator to 12 GeV. With 12 GeV electrons, a 9 GeV linearly polarized photon beam will be produced using the coherent bremsstrahlung technique. Along with this energy upgrade, a hermetic detector housed in new experimental hall (Hall D) will be used to collect data on photoproduced mesons with unprecedented statistics.     

GlueX: The search for gluonic excitations

The phenomenon of confinement in QCD remains a fundamental, unanswered question, and so does the significance of hybrid mesons in understanding QCD in the confinement region. The GlueX experiment will search for all hybrid exotic and non-exotic mesons in the mass range up to 3.0 GeV/c². This contribution deals exclusively with the search for exotic hybrid mesons.Received: 1 November 2002, Published online: 15 July 2003PACS: 12.38.-t Quantum chromodynamics - 12.38.Aw General properties of QCD (dynamics, confinement, etc.) - 12.38.Qk Experimental tests - 29.30.-h Spectrometers and spectroscopic techniquesRepresenting the Hall D Collaboration     

Spin Effects in Two Quark System and Mixed States

Based on the numeric solution of a system of coupled channels for vector mesons (S-and D-waves mixing)and for tensor mesons (P- and F- waves mixing) mass spectrum and wave functions of a family of vector mesons q in triplet states a e obtained. The calculations are performed using a well-known Cornell potential with a mixed Lorentz- structure of the confinement term. The spin-dependent part of the potential is taken from the Breit-Fermi approach.The effect of irregular terms of the potential is considered within the framework of the perturbation theory and/or of the configuration interaction approach, modified for a system of coupled equations. It is shown that even a small integral contribution of the D-wave to the total wave function of q system is very impotant for the calculation of certain characteristics of the meson states.     

Gluon exchange in meson spectroscopy

We discuss the spin structure ofN=L=0 andN=L=1 mesons in terms of the one-gluon exchange model with scalar confinement of quarks. SU(3)_flavour is broken by taking different masses for the quarks and the SU (3) breaking of the nonperturbed hamiltonian is shown to be very important in understanding the hyperfine splittings in the ground state mesons, including the charmed states. A fit to the experimental mass spectrum is performed for theN=L=0 andN=L=1 levels simultaneously. The spin-orbit splittings of the spectrum cannot be explained by the convential terms from gluon exchange and scalar confinement. We argue that additional terms, which break the ideal mixing pattern, have to be present. The inclusion of such a term gives a dramatic improvement in χ² and leads to an almost perfect fit to the data for masses and mixing angles.     

Mapping gluonic excitations and confinement

One of the outstanding and fundamental questions in physics is the quantitative understanding of the confinement of quarks and gluons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Confinement is a unique feature of QCD. Exotic hybrid mesons manifest gluonic degrees of freedom and their spectroscopy will provide the crucial data needed to test assumptions in lattice QCD and phenomenology leading to confinement. Photoproduction is expected to be particularly effective in producing exotic hybrids but data using photon probes are sparse. At Jefferson Lab, plans are underway to use the coherent bremsstrahlung technique to produce a linearly polarized photon beam. A solenoid-based hermetic detector will be used to collect data on meson production and decays with statistics that will exceed the current photoproduction data in hand by several orders of magnitude after the first year of running. In order to reach the ideal photon energy of 9 GeV/c for this mapping of the exotic spectra, the energy of the Jefferson Lab electron accelerator, CEBAF, will be doubled from its current maximum of 6 GeV to 12 GeV. The physics and project are described.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 12.39.Mk Glueball and nonstandard multi-quark/gluon states - 13.60.Le Meson productionA.R. Dzierba: Present address: Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA     

Scalar and axial-vector mesons

Almost thirty years ago, Penny G. Estabrooks asked “Where and what are the scalar mesons?” (P. Estabrooks, Phys. Rev. D 19, 2678 (1979)). The first part of her question can now be confidently responded (E. van Beveren et al., Z. Phys. C 30, 615 (1986)). However, with respect to the “What” many puzzles remain unanswered. Scalar and axial-vector mesons form part of a large family of mesons. Consequently, though it is useful to pay them some extra attention, there is no point in discussing them as isolated phenomena. The particularity of structures in the scattering of --basically-- pions and kaons with zero angular momentum is the absence of the centrifugal barrier, which allows us to “see” strong interactions at short distances. Experimentally observed differences and similarities between scalar and axial-vector mesons on the one hand, and other mesons on the other hand, are very instructive for further studies. Nowadays, there exists an abundance of theoretical approaches towards the mesonic spectrum, ranging from confinement models of all kinds, i.e., glueballs, and quark-antiquark, multiquark and hybrid configurations, to models in which only mesonic degrees of freedom are taken into account. Nature seems to come out somewhere in the middle, neither preferring pure bound states, nor effective meson-meson physics with only coupling constants and possibly form factors. As a matter of fact, apart from a few exceptions, like pions and kaons, Nature does not allow us to study mesonic bound states of any kind, which is equivalent to saying that such states do not really exist. Hence, instead of extrapolating from pions and kaons to the remainder of the meson family, it is more democratic to consider pions and kaons mesonic resonances that happen to come out below the lowest threshold for strong decay. Nevertheless, confinement is an important ingredient for understanding the many regularities observed in mesonic spectra. Therefore, excluding quark degrees of freedom is also not the most obvious way of describing mesons in general, and scalars and axial-vectors in particular.     

Excited state mass spectra,decay properties and Regge trajectories of charm and charm-strange mesons

The framework of a phenomenological quark-antiquark potential(Coulomb plus linear confinement)model with a Gaussian wave function is used for detailed study of masses of the ground, orbitally and radially excited states of heavy-light Qq,(Q=c,q=u/d,s) mesons. We incorporate a O(1/m) correction to the potential energy term and relativistic corrections to the kinetic energy term of the Hamiltonian. The spin-hyperfine, spin-orbit and tensor interactions incorporating the effect of mixing are employed to obtain the pseudoscalar, vector, radially and orbitally excited state meson masses. The Regge trajectories in the(J,M~2) and(nr,M~2) planes for heavy-light mesons are investigated with their corresponding parameters. Leptonic and radiative leptonic decay widths and corresponding branching ratios are computed. The mixing parameters are also estimated. Our predictions are in good agreement with experimental results as well as lattice and other theoretical models.     

Excited states of confined quarks

Low lying excitations of colored quarks and gluons are studied in the bag theory. The baryons and mesons considered have one quark in a P-wave excited state and the remainder in the ground state. They correspond to 1/2⁻ and 3/2⁻ baryons and to 0⁺ and 1⁺ mesons. Gluon hyperfine interactions are included to lowest order. SU(3) is broken by the strange quark mass. All parameters of the model were determined previously by fitting the masses of the light hadrons. The calculated masses of these states are generally found to be lighter than the observed states. Our spectrum contains states which do not occur in models of quark confinement with only two body forces but which should be present in the physical spectrum of any baglike confinement model.     

A chiral soliton model of nucleon and delta

A linear σ-model is used to describe the N and Δ as three quarks interacting via σ and π mesons. The effects of confinement are neglected. Although we solve the mean field equations for a hedgehog baryon we can calculate observables for states of good spin and isospin. These are in resonable agreement with experiment.     

Electron-positron scaling in bound state models

We investigate scaling assuming a generalized vector meson dominance picture. The vector mesons are described as relativistic quark-antiquark bound states by a Bethe-Salpeter equation which yields the mass spectrum and the coupling to e⁺e^? pairs. We discuss the spin structure and find that scaling can occur only for a γ_μ type amplitude. We solve the BS equation using a generalized WKB approximation and find scaling, independent of the detailed shape of the interaction. This means that scaling in e⁺e^? annihilation does not select a particular “confinement potential”. The scaling constant depends on the current renormalization constant and on the details of the relativistic spin structure.     

A Light-Cone QCD Inspired Effective Hamiltonian Model for Pseudoscalar and Scalar Mesons

Considering the one-gluon exchange interaction and phenomenological quark confinement potential, an improved light-cone effective Hamiltonian for mesons and the corresponding radial mass eigen equations in angular momentum representation is obtained. Solving the J = 0 eigen equations numerically and using a set of adjustable parameters, the obtained solutions for ground states and radial excited states can simultaneously describe both pseudoscalar and scalar flavour-off-diagonal mesons. Some radial excited states are also predicted and wait for experimental test. More results for the vector and axial vector mesons are expected.     

Beyond the quark model of hadrons from lattice QCD

Lattice QCD can give direct information on OZI-violating contributions to mesons. Here we explore the contributions that split flavour singlet and non-singlet meson masses. I discuss in detail the spectrum and decays for scalar mesons (i.e. including glueball effects). I also review the status of hybrid mesons and their decays.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 12.38.Gc Lattice QCD calculations - 12.39.Mk Glueball and nonstandard multi-quark/gluon states     

Effective chiral symmetry restoration in excited mesons

Results on the spectrum of ${\bar q} q$ mesons in a model with a linear Coulomb-like instantaneous confining potential are presented. The single-quark Green function as well as the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking are obtained from the Dyson-Schwinger (gap) equation. Given the dressed quark propagator, the spectrum of “usual” mesons, i.e., ${\bar q} q$ states with nonexotic quantum numbers J ^PC , is obtained from the Bethe-Salpeter equation. Effective restoration of chiral symmetry at large spins and/or radial excitations is observed and the states fall into approximate linear radial and angular Regge trajectories.     

Heavy Meson Spectroscopy

In this article we give a review of certain aspects of the present understanding of spectroscopy of heavy mesons and constituent quark masses in the light of non-relativistic potential model approach motivated by quantum chromodynamics. We find that the one gluon exchange at short distance and colour-confining interaction at large distance which is pure scalar (or scalarvector admixture with dominant scalar interaction) under the Lorentz transformation, can explain only partially the present data on 1 P states of bb and bb states. The S-wave data, that are available at present, however can be understood with both scalar confinement or scalar-vector admixture with scalar-dominant interaction.     

Low energy antiproton-proton annihilation and meson spectroscopy

Recent results in antiproton-proton annihilation at rest from the Crystal Barrel at CERN/LEAR are reviewed. Rates for annihilation at rest into various two-body channels have been measured. In spite of the complexity of the annihilation mechanism, simple tests based on the underlying quark constituents can be applied. The annihilation process is also useful to investigate the spectrum of light quark mesons and to search for exotic (non-q¯q) mesons. Three scalar states have been found in the 1500 MeV mass region. One of them is a good candidate for the ground state glueball.     

Is chiral symmetry restored in the excited meson spectrum?

The large degeneracy observed in the excited meson spectrum by the Cristal Barrel Collaboration in the experimental data on proton–antiproton annihilation in flight into mesons in the range 1.9–2.4 GeV has been interpreted as a signal of chiral symmetry restoration. In this work we suggest that such degeneracy may be an indication of the confinement potential modification by color screening. The experimental data can be fairly well reproduced in a constituent quark model with a screened linear confinement potential without changing the dynamical quark mass. Observables that could discriminate our model from those which explicitly restore the chiral symmetry are proposed.     

Pseudoscalar mesons and their radial excitations from the effective chiral Lagrangian

The effective chiral Lagrangian is derived from QCD in the framework of the field correlator method. It contains the effects of both confinement and chiral symmetry breaking due to a special structure of the resulting quark mass operator. It is shown that this Lagrangian describes light pseudoscalar mesons, and Gell-Mann-Oakes-Renner relations for pions, eta and K mesons are reproduced. The spectrum of radial excitations of pions and K mesons is found and compared to experimentally known masses.     

Hadron spectrum and infrared-finite behavior of QCD running coupling

We study the behavior of the QCD effective coupling α _s in the low-energy region by exploiting the conventional meson spectrum within a relativistic quantum-field model based on analytical confinement of quarks and gluons. The spectra of quark-antiquark and two-gluon bound states are defined by using a master equation similar to the ladder Bethe-Salpeter equation. A new, independent and specific infrared-finite behavior of QCD coupling is found below energy scale ∼1 GeV. Particularly, an infrared-fixed point is extracted at α _s (0) ≅ 0.757 for confinement scale Λ = 345 MeV. We provide a new analytic estimate of the lowest-state glueball mass. As applications, we also estimate masses of some intermediate and heavy mesons as well as the weak-decay constants of light mesons. By introducing only a minimal set of parameters (the quark masses m _f and Λ) we obtain results in reasonable agreement with recent experimental data in a wide range of energy scale ∼0.1–10 GeV. We demonstrate that global properties of some low-energy phenomena may be explained reasonably in the framework of a simple relativistic quantum-field model if one guesses correct symmetry structure of the quark-gluon interaction in the confinement region and uses simple forms of propagators in the hadronisation regime. The model may serve a reasonable framework to describe simultaneously different sectors in low-energy particle physics.