Electromagnetic form factors of the ρ\rho meson in a light-front constituent quark model

The electromagnetic form factors of the $\rho$ meson are evaluated adopting a relativistic constituent quark model based on the light-front formalism, and using a meson wave function with the high-momentum tail generated by the one-gluon-exchange interaction. The breakdown of the rotational covariance for the one-body component of the current operator is investigated and the sensitivity of the ratio of the $\rho$-meson form factors to the pion (charge) form factor to the spin-dependent component of the effective $q \bar{q}$ interaction is illustrated.Comment: 8 pages, latex file, 4 figures available as a separate .uu fil

Charmed decays of the B-meson in the quark model

Exclusive and inclusive, semileptonic and non-leptonic, charmed decays of the B-meson are investigated in the context of a phenomenological quark model. Bound-state effects are taken care of by adopting a single (model-dependent) non-perturbative wave function, describing the motion of the light spectator quark in the B-meson. A nice reproduction of both exclusive and inclusive semileptonic data is obtained. Our predictions for the electron spectrum are presented and compared with those of the Isgur-Scora-Grinstein-Wise quark model. Finally, our approach is applied to the calculation of inclusive non-leptonic widths, obtaining a remarkable agreement with experimental findings.Comment: to appear in the Proc. of the 2^{nd} Int. Conf. on Hyperons, Charm and Beauty Hadrons, Montreal, Canada, 27-30 August 199

Frame-Independence of Exclusive Amplitudes in the Light-Front Quantization

While the particle-number-conserving convolution formalism established in the Drell-Yan-West reference frame is frequently used to compute exclusive amplitudes in the light-front quantization, this formalism is limited to only those frames where the light-front helicities are not changed and the good (plus) component of the current remains unmixed. For an explicit demonstration of such criteria, we present the relations between the current matrix elements in the two typical reference frames used for calculations of the exclusive amplitudes, i.e. the Drell-Yan-West and Breit frames and investigate both pseudoscalar and vector electromagnetic currents in detail. We find that the light-front helicities are unchanged and the good component of the current does not mix with the other components of the current under the transformation between these two frames. Thus, the pseudoscalar and vector form factors obtained by the diagonal convolution formalism in both frames must indeed be identical. However, such coincidence between the Drell-Yan-West and Breit frames does not hold in general. We give an explicit example in which the light-front helicities are changed and the plus component of the current is mixed with other components under the change of reference frame. In such a case, the relationship between the frames should be carefully analyzed before the established convolution formalism in the Drell-Yan-West frame is used.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

A connection between inclusive semileptonic decays of bound and free heavy quarks

A relativistic constituent quark model, formulated on the light-front, is used to derive a new parton approximation for the inclusive semileptonic decay width of the B-meson. A simple connection between the decay rate of a free heavy-quark and the one of a heavy-quark bound in a meson or in a baryon is established. The main features of the new approach are the treatment of the b-quark as an on-mass-shell particle and the inclusion of the effects arising from the b-quark transverse motion in the B-meson. In a way conceptually similar to the deep-inelastic scattering case, the B-meson inclusive width is expressed as the integral of the free b-quark partial width multiplied by a bound-state factor related to the b-quark distribution function in the B-meson. The non-perturbative meson structure is described through various quark-model wave functions, constructed via the Hamiltonian light-front formalism using as input both relativized and non-relativistic potential models. A link between spectroscopic quark models and the B-meson decay physics is obtained in this way. Our predictions for the B -> X_c l nu_l and B -> X_u l nu_l decays are used to extract the CKM parameters |V_cb| and |V_ub| from available inclusive data. After averaging over the various quark models adopted and including leading-order perturbative QCD corrections, we obtain |V_cb| = (43.0 +/- 0.7_exp +/- 1.8_th) 10^-3 and |V_ub| = (3.83 +/- 0.48_exp +/- 0.14_th) 10^-3, implying |V_ub / V_cb| = 0.089 +/- 0.011_exp +/- 0.005_th, in nice agreement with existing predictions.Comment: revised version with pQCD corrections included, to appear in Physical Review

Comparison among Hamiltonian light-front formalisms at q+ = 0 and q+ <> 0: space-like elastic form factors of pseudoscalar and vector mesons

The electromagnetic elastic form factors of pseudoscalar and vector mesons are analyzed for space-like momentum transfers in terms of relativistic quark models based on the Hamiltonian light-front formalism elaborated in different reference frames (q+ 0 and q+ 0). As far as the one-body approximation for the electromagnetic current operator is concerned, it is shown that the predictions of the light-front approach at q+=0 should be preferred, particularly in case of light hadrons, because of: i) the relevant role played by the Z-graph at q+ 0, and ii) the appropriate elimination of spurious effects, related to the orientation of the null hyperplane where the light-front wave function is defined.Comment: version to appear in Phys. Rev. C. No change in the results and in the conclusion

Radiative πρ\pi \rho and πω\pi \omega transition form factors in a light-front constituent quark model

The form factors of the $\pi \rho$ and $\pi \omega$ radiative transitions are evaluated within a light-front constituent quark model, using for the first time the eigenfunctions of a light-front mass operator reproducing the meson mass spectrum and including phenomenological Dirac and Pauli quark form factors in the one-body electromagnetic current operator. The sensitivity of the transition form factors both to the meson wave functions and to the constituent quark form factors is illustrated. It is shown that the measurement of the $\pi \rho$ and $\pi \omega$ radiative transitions could help in discriminating among various models of the meson structure.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 4 figures available as separate .uu file, to appear in Phys. Lett.

Hard Constituent Quarks and Electroweak Properties of Pseudoscalar Mesons

The high momentum components generated in the wave function of pseudoscalar mes* by the one-gluon-exchange interaction are investigated within a relativistic constituent quark model. Adopting the light-cone formalism, the sensitivity of the weak decay constant and the charge form factor to hard constituent quarks is illustrated.Comment: 11 pages and 5 figs. (to be requested), LaTeX, INFN-ISS 94/3. To appear in Physics Lett.

The Vector Meson Form Factor Analysis in Light-Front Dynamics

We study the form factors of vector mesons using a covariant fermion field theory model in $(3+1)$ dimensions. Performing a light-front calculation in the $q^+ =0$ frame in parallel with a manifestly covariant calculation, we note the existence of a nonvanishing zero-mode contribution to the light-front current $J^+$ and find a way of avoiding the zero-mode in the form factor calculations. Upon choosing the light-front gauge (\ep^+_{h=\pm}=0) with circular polarization and with spin projection $h=\uparrow\downarrow=\pm$, only the helicity zero to zero matrix element of the plus current receives zero-mode contributions. Therefore, one can obtain the exact light-front solution of the form factors using only the valence contribution if only the helicity components, $(h'h)=(++),(+-)$, and $(+0)$, are used. We also compare our results obtained from the light-front gauge in the light-front helicity basis (i.e. $h=\pm,0$) with those obtained from the non-LF gauge in the instant form linear polarization basis (i.e. $h=x,y,z$) where the zero-mode contributions to the form factors are unavoidable.Comment: 33 pages; typo in Eq.(15) is corrected; comment on Ref.[9] is corrected; version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Electromagnetic form factors in the light-front formalism and the Feynman triangle diagram: spin-0 and spin-1 two-fermion systems

The connection between the Feynman triangle diagram and the light-front formalism for spin-0 and spin-1 two-fermion systems is analyzed. It is shown that in the limit q+ = 0 the form factors for both spin-0 and spin-1 systems can be uniquely determined using only the good amplitudes, which are not affected by spurious effects related to the loss of rotational covariance present in the light-front formalism. At the same time, the unique feature of the suppression of the pair creation process is maintained. Therefore, a physically meaningful one-body approximation, in which all the constituents are on their mass-shells, can be consistently formulated in the limit q+ = 0. Moreover, it is shown that the effects of the contact term arising from the instantaneous propagation of the active constituent can be canceled out from the triangle diagram by means of an appropriate choice of the off-shell behavior of the bound state vertexes; this implies that in case of good amplitudes the Feynman triangle diagram and the one-body light-front result match exactly. The application of our covariant light-front approach to the evaluation of the rho-meson elastic form factors is presented.Comment: corrected typos in the reference

Angular Conditions,Relations between Breit and Light-Front Frames, and Subleading Power Corrections

We analyze the current matrix elements in the general collinear (Breit) frames and find the relation between the ordinary (or canonical) helicity amplitudes and the light-front helicity amplitudes. Using the conservation of angular momentum, we derive a general angular condition which should be satisfied by the light-front helicity amplitudes for any spin system. In addition, we obtain the light-front parity and time-reversal relations for the light-front helicity amplitudes. Applying these relations to the spin-1 form factor analysis, we note that the general angular condition relating the five helicity amplitudes is reduced to the usual angular condition relating the four helicity amplitudes due to the light-front time-reversal condition. We make some comments on the consequences of the angular condition for the analysis of the high-$Q^2$ deuteron electromagnetic form factors, and we further apply the general angular condition to the electromagnetic transition between spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 systems and find a relation useful for the analysis of the N-$\Delta$ transition form factors. We also discuss the scaling law and the subleading power corrections in the Breit and light-front frames.Comment: 24 pages,2 figure