Light Hadron Masses from a Matrix Model for QCD

TL;DR

This paper uses a matrix model approximation of QCD on a 3-sphere to estimate light hadron masses, achieving reasonable accuracy compared to experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a matrix model approach to approximate QCD spectra and relates the model's energy eigenvalues to physical hadron masses in the flat space limit.

Findings

Light baryon masses within 10% of observed values

Most light meson masses within 30% of experimental data

Matrix model provides a fairly accurate estimate of the light hadron spectrum

Abstract

The $SU(3)$ Yang-Mills matrix model coupled to fundamental fermions is an approximation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) on a 3-sphere of radius $R$. The spectrum of this matrix model Hamiltonian is estimated using standard variational methods, and is analyzed in the strong coupling limit. By employing a matching prescription to determine the dependence of the Yang-Mills coupling constant $g$ on $R$, we relate the asymptotic values of the energy eigenvalues in the $R \rightarrow \infty$ (flat space) limit to the masses of light hadrons. We find that the matrix model estimates the light hadron spectrum fairly accurately, with the light baryon masses falling within $10\%$, and most light meson masses falling within about $30\%$ of their observed values.