Towards a new paradigm for heavy-light meson spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new paradigm for heavy-light meson spectroscopy, emphasizing the role of nonperturbative Goldstone-Boson scattering dynamics, supported by recent experimental data, challenging traditional quark model classifications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the nonperturbative scattering mechanism explains the observed meson spectrum, suggesting the lowest positive-parity charm and bottom mesons are not conventional quark-model ground states.

Findings

Supported by LHCb data on B decays.

Resolves puzzles in charm meson spectrum.

Challenges traditional quark model classifications.

Abstract

Since 2003 many new hadrons, including the lowest-lying positive-parity charm-strange mesons ${D_{s0}^*(2317)}$ and ${D_{s1}(2460)}$, were observed that do not conform with quark model expectations. It was recently demonstrated that various puzzles in the charm meson spectrum find a natural resolution, if the SU(3) multiplets for the lightest scalar and axial-vector states, amongst them the ${D_{s0}^*(2317)}$ and the ${D_{s1}(2460)}$, owe their existence to the nonperturbative dynamics of Goldstone-Boson scattering off $D_{(s)}$ and $D^*_{(s)}$ mesons. Most importantly the ordering of the lightest strange and nonstrange scalars becomes natural. In this work we demonstrate for the first time that this mechanism is strongly supported by the recent high quality data on the ${B^-\to D^+\pi^-\pi^- }$ provided by the LHCb experiment. This implies that the lowest quark-model positive-parity charm mesons, together with their bottom counterparts, if realized in nature, do not form the ground-state multiplet. This is similar to the pattern that has been established for the scalar mesons made from light up, down and strange quarks, where the lowest multiplet is considered to be made of states not described by the quark model. In a broader view, the hadron spectrum must be viewed as more than a collection of quark model states.