Quark Models of Baryon Masses and Decays

TL;DR

This paper reviews quark models for baryon spectra and decays, comparing different approaches like one-gluon exchange, Goldstone-boson exchange, and algebraic models, and discusses their alignment with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of various quark models for baryons, including recent large N_c and lattice QCD developments, highlighting their differences and implications.

Findings

Models show varying degrees of agreement with experimental data.

Extensions beyond one-gluon exchange improve spectral predictions.

Model assumptions significantly influence decay and coupling predictions.

Abstract

The application of quark models to the spectra and strong and electromagnetic couplings of baryons is reviewed. This review focuses on calculations which attempt a global description of the masses and decay properties of baryons, although recent developments in applying large N_c QCD and lattice QCD to the baryon spectrum are described. After outlining the conventional one-gluon-exchange picture, models which consider extensions to this approach are contrasted with dynamical quark models based on Goldstone-boson exchange and an algebraic collective-excitation approach. The spectra and electromagnetic and strong couplings that result from these models are compared with the quantities extracted from the data and each other, and the impact of various model assumptions on these properties is emphasized. Prospects for the resolution of the important issues raised by these comparisons are discussed.