Nucleon parton distributions in a light-front quark model

Continuing with our analysis of parton distributions in the nucleon, we extend our light-front quark model in order to obtain both the helicity independent and helicity dependent parton distributions, analytically matching the results of global fits at the initial scale $\mu \sim 1$ GeV, and which also contain the correct Dokshitzer-Gribov-Lipatov-Altarelli-Parisi evolution. We also calculate the transverse parton, Wigner and Husimi distributions from a unified point of view, using our light-front wave functions and expressing them in terms of the parton distributions $q_v(x)$ and $\delta q_v(x)$. Our results are very relevant for the current and future program of the COMPASS experiment at SPS (CERN)

Possible hadronic molecule structure of the Y(3940) and Y(4140)

In the present article we report on evidence for hadronic molecule structures in the charmonium sector. In particular we discuss the Y(3940) and the recently observed Y(4140) as heavy hadron molecule states with quantum numbers $J^{PC} = 0^{++}$ or $2^{++}$. The Y(3940) state is considered to be a superposition of $D^{\ast +}D^{\ast -}$ and $D^{\ast 0} \overline{D^{\ast 0}}$, while the Y(4140) is a bound state of $D_s^{\ast +}$ and $D_s^{\ast -}$ mesons. We give predictions for both the strong Y(3940) to J/psi omega, Y(4140) to J/psi phi and radiative Y(3940)/Y(4140) to gamma gamma decay widths in a phenomenological Lagrangian approach. The results for the strong hidden charm decay modes clearly support the molecular interpretation of the Y(3940) and Y(4140), while our estimates for the radiative decays provide a sensitive test for the underlying meson structure of the two Y mesons discussed here. The alternative assignment of $J^{PC} = 2^{++}$ is also tested, giving similar results for the strong decay widths.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of XIII International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy, November 29 - December 4, 2009, Florida State Universit

Nucleon resonances in AdS/QCD

We describe the electroproduction of the N(1440) Roper resonance in soft-wall AdS/QCD. The Roper resonance is identified as the first radially excited state of the nucleon, where higher-Fock states in addition to the three-quark component are included. The main conclusion is that the leading 3q component plays the dominant role in the description of electroproduction properties of this resonance: form factors, helicity amplitudes and charge densities. The obtained results are in good agreement with the recent results of the CLAS Collaboration at JLab.Comment: 20 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1204.661

Nuclear physics in soft-wall AdS/QCD: Deuteron electromagnetic form factors

We present a high-quality description of the deuteron electromagnetic form factors in a soft-wall AdS/QCD approach. We first propose an effective action describing the dynamics of the deuteron in the presence of an external vector field. Based on this action the deuteron electromagnetic form factors are calculated, displaying the correct 1/Q^10 power scaling for large Q^2 values. This finding is consistent with quark counting rules and the earlier observation that this result holds in confining gauge/gravity duals. The Q^2 dependence of the deuteron form factors is defined by a single and universal scale parameter kappa, which is fixed from data.Comment: 6 page

Chiral Symmetry Breaking and Meson Wave Functions in Soft-Wall AdS/QCD

We consider mesons composed of light and heavy quarks and discuss the construction of the corresponding meson wave functions in soft-wall AdS/QCD. We specifically take care that constraints imposed by chiral symmetry breaking and by the heavy quark limit are fulfilled. The main results are: i) the wave functions of light mesons have a nontrivial dependence on the current quark mass, which gives rise to a mass spectrum consistent with the one including explicit breaking of chiral symmetry; ii) the wave functions of heavy-light mesons generate their correct mass spectrum, the mass splittings of vector and pseudoscalar states, and the correct scaling of leptonic decay constants f(Q \bar q) \sim 1/sqrt(mQ); iii) the wave functions of heavy quarkonia produce their correct mass spectrum and lead to a scaling behaviour of the leptonic decay constants f(Q \bar Q) \sim sqrt(mQ) and f(c \bar b) \sim mc/sqrt(mb) at mc << mb, consistent with potential models and QCD sum rules.Comment: 10 page

Light-front quark model consistent with Drell-Yan-West duality and quark counting rules

We propose a phenomenological light-front wave function for hadrons with arbitrary twist-dimension (mesons, baryons and multiquark states), which gives the correct scaling behavior of structure functions (parton distributions) and form factors for pions and nucleons. For other hadronic states the proposed wave function produces form factors consistent with quark counting rules, and gives predictions for structure functions (parton distributions). As an application we build a light-front quark model for nucleons based on the proposed wave function.Comment: 5 page