Description of the baryon mass spectrum by open strings and diquarks

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that hadron mass spectra, including mesons and baryons, can be effectively described by open string models with a universal Hagedorn temperature, highlighting the role of diquarks in baryons and implications for QCD phase transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a string-theoretic description of hadron spectra with a universal Hagedorn temperature and emphasizes the importance of diquarks in baryon structure, aligning with Regge phenomenology.

Findings

Consistent Hagedorn temperature for mesons and baryons (~0.34 GeV)

Open-string spectrum accurately fits experimental data

Diquarks are essential in modeling baryon mass spectra

Abstract

We analyze the mass spectra of hadrons and demonstrate that the physical spectra of mesons and baryons are well described by the exponential spectrum of open strings. The open-string spectrum, derived from string theory, is characterized by a unique Hagedorn temperature $T_{\rm H}$ and free from any other parameters. Notably, our fitting to the physical spectra yields consistent values for both mesons and baryons, $T_{\rm H} \simeq 0.34\,\text{GeV}$, which contrasts with previous phenomenological analyses that suggested different values. This obtained value aligns well with typical string tension derived from lattice-QCD calculations and the Regge slope. In the baryonic sector, our results indicate that diquarks play a crucial role in describing the mass spectrum, implying that baryons can be understood as a quark-diquark system, as anticipated by Regge phenomenology. These findings have significant implications for our understanding of quark deconfinement, especially in the possibly existing regime at high temperature and small baryon chemical potential within the QCD phase diagram.