Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 2604.04113

Heavy and heavy-light tensor and axial-tensor mesons in the Covariant Spectator Theory

Abstract

We present the first calculation of tensor and axial-tensor mesons with total spin $J\geq2$ within the Covariant Spectator Theory. We employ a refined quark-antiquark interaction kernel that incorporates the momentum dependence of the strong coupling, replacing the previously used constant term of the kernel. Global least-squares fits to the masses of experimentally established heavy and heavy-light meson states yield an excellent description of the mass spectrum for $J^P=0^\pm, 1^\pm, 2^\pm$, and $3^\pm$ using only eight adjustable parameters.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Elmar P. Biernat, Alfred Stadler. 2026-04-05. Heavy and heavy-light tensor and axial-tensor mesons in the Covariant Spectator Theory. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.04113

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Chiral Symmetry and Its Restoration in QCD

Chiral symmetry is an approximate symmetry of QCD in the light-quark sector. Its spontaneous breaking in the QCD vacuum explains why the pion is anomalously light and why it plays a central role in nuclear physics, including the tensor component of the nuclear force and the saturation properties of nuclei. This article introduces chirality through the Dirac equation and shows how a fermion mass mixes left- and right-handed components, in close analogy with the Bogoliubov--Valatin theory of superconductivity. We then explain spontaneous symmetry breaking, the Nambu--Goldstone theorem, and the role of the chiral condensate as an order parameter. The axial $U(1)_A$ anomaly and its consequences, especially for the $η'$ meson, are discussed. Chiral effective models, including Nambu--Jona-Lasinio-type models, linear sigma models with anomaly terms, and parity-doublet models for baryons, are reviewed as tools for describing hadron properties and the equation of state of dense matter. Finally, we discuss how chiral symmetry may be partially restored at finite temperature and/or baryon density, and summarize experimental probes such as deeply bound pionic atoms, dilepton production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, $η'$-mesic nuclei, and baryonic observables.

nucl-th

Time-evolution formalism in the complex scaling method: Application to the two-proton decay of $^{6}$Be

We apply our complex-scaled time-evolution operator to the two-proton decay of $^{6}$Be. The nucleus is described as an $α+p+p$ three-body system with explicit Jacobi-coordinate rearrangement and the realistic Argonne $v8'$ NN interaction for the proton-proton subsystem. Starting from a confined initial wave packet, the decay dynamics are described by expansion over the complex-scaled eigenstates of the final Hamiltonian. The decay width extracted from the late-time survival probability agrees closely with that obtained from the CSM resonance pole. The time-dependent densities in different Jacobi coordinates reveal complementary aspects of the evolving three-body geometry, while the spin-singlet component remains dominant during the decay. In particular, the correlated two-proton configuration persists even in the presence of the strong short-range repulsion of the realistic NN interaction. These results demonstrate the applicability of the complex-scaled time-evolution framework to explicit three-body decay dynamics and provide a consistent description of the decay width, spatial evolution, and spin correlations of $^{6}$Be.

nucl-th

Spin-One Secondary Pairing in Two-Flavor Color Superconductivity: Spinful Relativistic Superfluidity and Anomaly Matching

We study secondary pairing in the two-flavor color-superconducting (2SC) phase, where the residual ungapped quarks form a same-chirality $J^P=1^+$ condensate driven by an attractive instanton-induced interaction. We determine its symmetry realization, quasiparticle structure, anomaly matching, and low-energy effective theory. The pairing gap is necessarily nodal; in particular, the complex axial state has two point nodes and realizes a spinful relativistic superfluid. This state preserves the full chiral symmetry ${\rm SU}(2)_{\rm L}\times{\rm SU}(2)_{\rm R}$ while breaking the modified baryon-number symmetry ${\rm U}(1)_{\tilde{\rm B}}$ and spatial rotations, with rotations about the nodal axis locked to the condensate phase. This locking gives rise to a Berry term, the Mermin-Ho relation, and a type-B orientational Nambu-Goldstone mode in addition to the superfluid phonon. We also show how anomaly matching is reorganized by secondary pairing: the perturbative mixed ${\rm SU}(2)_{\rm L,R}^2{\rm U}(1)_{\tilde{\rm B}}$ anomaly is realized by a Wess-Zumino coupling of the superfluid phonon, whereas the ${\rm SU}(2)_{\rm L}$ and ${\rm SU}(2)_{\rm R}$ Witten anomalies are carried by the point-node Bogoliubov-de Gennes flavor doublets. The resulting theory provides a concrete dense-QCD realization of a spinful relativistic superfluid with nodal fermions required by anomaly matching.

nucl-th