Baryons as Relativistic Three-Quark Systems

We discuss some recent developments in the description of baryons as three-quark systems within relativistic constituent quark models. In particular we address the issues of excitation spectra, electroweak structure, and mesonic resonance decays. The necessities of implementing simultaneously the symmetries of low-energy quantum chromodynamics and of relativistic invariance are emphasized.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Invited talk at the Workshop "Nuclear Dynamics: From Quarks to Nuclei", Lisbon, 2002. To be published in Few-Body Systems Suppl. 1

Covariant calculation of strange decays of baryon resonances

We present results for kaon decay widths of baryon resonances from a relativistic study with constituent quark models. The calculations are done in the point-form of Poincare-invariant quantum mechanics with a spectator-model decay operator. We obtain covariant predictions of the Goldstone-boson-exchange and a variant of the one-gluon-exchange constituent quark models for all kaon decay widths of established baryon resonances. They are generally characterized by underestimating the available experimental data. In particular, the widths of kaon decays with increasing strangeness in the baryon turn out to be extremely small. We also consider the nonrelativistic limit, leading to the familiar elementary emission model, and demonstrate the importance of relativistic effects. It is found that the nonrelativistic approach evidently misses sensible influences from Lorentz boosts and some essential spin-coupling terms.Comment: 6 pages, 3 table

Quark-Model Identification of Baryon Ground and Resonant States

We present a new classification scheme of baryon ground states and resonances into SU(3) flavor multiplets. The scheme is worked out along a covariant formalism with relativistic constituent quark models and it relies on detailed investigations of the baryon spectra, the spin-flavor structure of the baryon eigenstates, the behaviour of their probability density distributions as well as covariant predictions for mesonic decay widths. The results are found to be quite independent of the specific types of relativistic constituent quark models employed. It turns out that a consistent classification requires to include also resonances that are presently reported from experiment with only two-star status.Comment: 24 pages, 20 Fig

Covariant calculation of mesonic baryon decays

We present covariant predictions for pi and eta decay modes of N and Delta resonances from relativistic constituent-quark models based on one-gluon-exchange and Goldstone-boson-exchange dynamics. The results are calculated within the point-form approach to Poincare-invariant relativistic quantum mechanics applying a spectator-model decay operator. The direct predictions of the constituent-quark models for covariant pi and eta decay widths show a behaviour completely different from previous ones calculated in nonrelativistic or so-called semirelativistic approaches. It is found that the present theoretical results agree with experiment only in a few cases but otherwise always remain smaller than the experimental data (as compiled by the Particle Data Group). Possible reasons for this behaviour are discussed with regard to the quality of both the quark-model wave functions and the mesonic decay operator.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Hadronic Decays of N and \Delta Resonances in a Chiral Quark Model

\pi and \eta decay modes of light baryon resonances are investigated within a chiral quark model whose hyperfine interaction is based on Goldstone-boson exchange. For the decay mechanism a modified version of the 3P0 model is employed. Our primary aim is to provide a further test of the recently proposed Goldstone-boson-exchange constituent quark model. We compare the predictions for \pi and \eta decay widths with experiment and also with results from a traditional one-gluon-exchange constituent quark model. The differences between nonrelativistic and semirelativistic versions of the constituent quark models are outlined. We also discuss the sensitivity of the results on the parametrization of the meson wave function entering the 3P0 model.Comment: 17 pages, 6 eps figure