Hidden and open heavy-flavor hadronic states

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability and decay properties of heavy-flavor hadronic states, comparing quark and hadron models, and explains the existence of narrow resonances above decay thresholds.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of hidden and open heavy-flavor states using quark and hadron frameworks, highlighting conditions for their stability and decay behaviors.

Findings

Compact and molecular states exist under specific conditions.

Decay widths vary between weak and strong decays.

Narrow resonances above decay thresholds are theoretically justified.

Abstract

We discuss the stability of hidden and open heavy-flavor hadronic states made of either two or three mesons. References are made in passing to studies regarding two and three-body systems containing baryons. We perform a comparative study analyzing the results in terms of quark and hadron degrees of freedom. Compact and molecular states are found to exist in very specific situations. We estimate the decay width for the different scenarios: weak decays for bound states by the strong interaction, and strong decays for hadronic resonances above a decay threshold. The experimental observation of narrow hadrons lying well above their lowest decay threshold is theoretically justified.