The existing theory of hard exclusive QCD processes is based on two assumptions: (i) $factorization$ into a $hard\,block$ times light front distribution amplitudes (DA's); (ii) use of perturbative gluon exchanges within the hard block. However, unlike DIS and jet physics, the characteristic momentum transfer $Q$ involved in the factorized block is not large enough for this theory to be phenomenologically successful. In this work, we revisit the latter assumption (ii), by explicitly calculating the $instanton-induced$ contributions to the hard block, and show that they contribute substantially to the vector, scalar and gravitational form factors of the pseudoscalar, scalar and vector mesons, over a wide range of momentum transfer.
The CLAS Collaboration recently reported measured ratios of pion and kaon electroproduction cross sections from a proton target and extracted the ratios for light and strange quark--antiquark pairs, ${u\bar{u}}/ {d\bar{d}}$ and ${s\bar{s}}/ {d\bar{d}}$. Within an extended chiral constituent quark formalism, we investigate contributions to those ratios from the nonperturbative mechanism due to all possible intrinsic $|uudQ \bar{Q}\rangle$ Fock states in the proton; with $Q \bar{Q} \equiv u\bar{u},~ d\bar{d},~s\bar{s},~c\bar{c}$. Our results are compared with the CLAS data and findings from othe…
This is the first of a sequence of papers that address the non-perturbative origin of the central, and spin-dependent forces between quarks. Its main thrust is a focus on meson spectroscopy in the center of mass frame. We suggest a "dense instanton ensemble" model for the QCD vacuum, to explain the interquark forces in mesons, from quarkonia to heavy-light and light-light ones, to the extent it is possible. The sequels will show how to export these interactions to the light front, and derive the corresponding Hamiltonians and mesonic wavefunctions.
We study inelastic meson-meson scattering that is governed by quark-antiquark annihilation and creation involving a quark and an antiquark annihilating into a gluon, and subsequently the gluon creating another quark-antiquark pair. The resultant hadronic reactions include for I=1: pion + pion to rho + rho, kaon + antikaon to kaon* + antikaon*, kaon + antikaon* to kaon* + antikaon*, kaon* + antikaon to kaon* + antikaon*, as well as pion + pion to kaon + antikaon, pion + rho to kaon + antikaon*, pion + rho to kaon* + antikaon, and kaon + antikaon to rho + rho. In each reaction, one or two Feynma…
The possibility of the existence of mesons with two or more quark-antiquark pairs is investigated with a new application of the Thomas-Fermi (TF) statistical quark model. Quark color couplings are treated in a mean field manner similar to a previous application to baryons, and short and concise expressions for energies are derived. We find that, on average, quarks only interact with antiquarks in such systems. The TF differential equation is constructed and systems with heavy-light quark content are examined. Three types of mesonic systems are defined. In the case of charm quarks, multi-charmo…
We review studies of inelastic meson-meson scattering. In nonperturbative schemes with chiral-perturbation-theory Lagrangians and in models based on effective meson Lagrangians, inelastic meson-meson scattering leads to the successful identification of resonances in meson-meson reactions, adequate inclusion of final state interactions in particle decays, and so on. For mesons of which each consists of a quark and an antiquark, inelastic meson-meson scattering may be caused by quark-antiquark annihilation, quark-antiquark creation, quark interchange, and quark-antiquark annihilation and creatio…
We study the spin splitting in the heavy quarkonium hybrid spectrum within the framework of an nonrelativistic effective field theory. We derive for the first time the spin-dependent part of the heavy-quark-antiquark potential for heavy quarkonium hybrids to order $1/m^2$ in the heavy-quark-mass expansion. We find that several operators that are not found in standard quarkonia appear, most remarkably an operator suppressed by only one power of the heavy-quark mass. By matching the weakly-coupled pNRQCD to the effective field theory in the regime of short heavy-quark-antiquark distances, we wor…
With quark-antiquark annihilation and creation in the first Born approximation, we study the reactions: $K \bar {K} \to K \bar {K}^\ast, ~K \bar{K} \to K^* \bar{K}, ~πK \to πK^\ast, ~πK \to ρK, ~ππ\to K \bar{K}^\ast, ~ππ\to K^\ast \bar{K}, ~ππ\to K^\ast \bar{K}^\ast, ~πρ\to K \bar{K}, ~πρ\to K^\ast \bar{K}^\ast, ~ρρ\to K^\ast \bar{K}^\ast, ~K \bar{K}^\ast \to ρρ$, and $K^* \bar{K} \to ρρ$. Unpolarized cross sections for the reactions are obtained from transition amplitudes that are composed of mesonic quark-antiquark relative-motion wave functions and the transition potential for quark-antiqua…
The annihilation of heavy particles close to thermal equilibrium, which plays a prominent role in the chemical equilibration of heavy quarks in the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) as well as in many classic dark matter scenarios, is reexamined. We derive a scattering amplitude that resums near-threshold attractive interaction of the annihilating particles in terms of the non-relativistic scattering $T$-matrix and Green's function, thereby capturing the pertinent Sommerfeld enhancement from both nonperturbative scattering state and bound state solutions. The derived formula is of such generality that …
While many properties of the vector charmonium first excitations are yet to be measured, enhancements at unexpected energies are intriguing, alias the $Y$ states. In order to understand the naturally unquenched mesonic line-shapes, the influence of the most relevant hadronic decay channels must be taken into account. Within an unitary effective approach we present results where mesonic loops are included in an equivalent manner to coupled-channels. We show results for the $ψ(3770)$ and $ψ(4160)$ systems, where we find the nonperturbative effects of dynamical generation of poles and line-shape …
Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts the existence of both nonperturbative intrinsic and perturbative extrinsic heavy quark contributions to the fundamental structure of hadrons. The existence of intrinsic charm at the 3-standard-deviation level in the proton has recently been established from structure function measurements by the NNPDF Collaboration. Here we revisit the physics of intrinsic heavy quarks using light-front holographic QCD (LFHQCD) - a novel comprehensive approach to hadron structure which provides detailed predictions for dynamical properties of the hadrons, such as form fact…
It is shown how a chiral Lagrangian framework can be used to derive relationships connecting quark-level QCD correlation functions to mesonic-level two-point functions. Crucial ingredients of this connection are scale factor matrices relating each distinct quark-level substructure (e.g., quark-antiquark, four-quark) to its mesonic counterpart. The scale factors and mixing angles are combined into a projection matrix to obtain the physical (hadronic) projection of the QCD correlation function matrix. Such relationships provide a powerful bridge between chiral Lagrangians and QCD sum-rules that …
The nonperturbative quantization technique à la Heisenberg is applied for non-Abelian gauge theories. The operator Yang-Mills equation is written, which on the corresponding averaging gives an infinite set of equations for all Green functions. We split all degrees of freedom into two groups: in the former, we have $A^a_μ\in \mathcal G \subset SU(N)$, and in the second group we have coset degrees of freedom $SU(N) / \mathcal G$. Using such splitting and some assumptions about 2- and 4-point Green functions, we truncate the infinite set of equations to two equations. The first equation is for th…
Model studies play an important role for the understanding and elucidation of the nonperturbative properties of transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). The parton model is often a helpful framework and starting point for first explorations of TMD properties and the description of deep-inelastic processes in which TMDs can be accessed. Based on a systematic exploration of the parton model concept, we reconcile the claims in literature that there are 2 independent structures in the quark correlator in the parton model vs the claim that there are 3, and explain the und…
Using a nonperturbative framework of Dyson-Schwinger equations a class of Nakanishi's like integral representations for the transverse part of the quark-photon vertex is derived. For this but also for its own purpose the two and single variable integral representations for untruncated quark-antiquark-photon vertex is proposed as well. To exhibit the adequacy of proposed representation, the Dyson-Schwinger equation for the vertex is transformed into the equivalent set of coupled integro-differential equations for Nakanishi weight functions: functions that appear linearly in the numerator of giv…
We study the processes $K\bar{K} \to ϕ$, $πD \to D^\ast$, $π\bar{D} \to \bar{D}^\ast$, and the production of $ψ(3770)$, $ψ(4040)$, $ψ(4160)$, and $ψ(4415)$ mesons in collisions of charmed mesons or charmed strange mesons. The process of 2-to-1 meson-meson scattering involves a quark and an antiquark from the two initial mesons annihilating into a gluon and subsequently the gluon being absorbed by the spectator quark or antiquark. Transition amplitudes for the scattering process derive from the transition potential in conjunction with mesonic quark-antiquark wave functions and the relative-moti…
We recall and update, both theoretically and phenomenologically, our (nearly) forty-years-old proposal of a string-junction as a necessary complement to the conventional classification of hadrons based just on their quark-antiquark constituents. In that proposal single (though in general metastable) hadronic states are associated with "irreducible" gauge-invariant operators consisting of Wilson lines (visualized as strings of color flux tubes) that may either end on a quark or an antiquark, or annihilate in triplets at a junction $J$ or an anti-junction $\bar{J}$. For the junction-free sector …
The imaginary part of the effective heavy-quark potential is related to the total in-medium decay width of heavy quark-antiquark bound states. We extract the static limit of this quantity using classical-statistical simulations of real-time Yang-Mills dynamics by measuring the temporal decay of Wilson loops. By performing the simulations on finer and larger lattices, we are able to show that the nonperturbative results follow the same form as the perturbative ones. For large quark-antiquark separations, we quantify the magnitude of the non-perturbative long-range corrections to the imaginary p…
