Elementary Particle Physics
The goals of the research effort in particle physics are twofold: to find a fundamental explanation of the spins, masses and decay modes of the mesons
and baryons and to find a compact mathematical description of these properties with a minimum number of adjustable parameters. Both of these goals are
now being pursued within the context of our present theory of strong interactions, Quantum Chromodymanics, the theory of quarks and gluons.
Dr. Lewis Fulcher is collaborating with Baker, Ball and Zachariasen, who have spent more than a decade developing the dual superconducting theory
of QCD. Initial tests of their theory give good indications of agreement with the measured energies and splittings of the heavy-quark systems (charmonium
and the upsilon system). Their results for the quark-antiquark potential are also supported by lattice gauge calculations.
His role in this collaboration is to extend the tests of the theory to systems consisting of a heavy quark and a light antiquark (or its charge
conjugate), where relativistic effects are much more important. This additional series of tests is made possible by a new procedure for solving
relativistic wave equations with nonlocal operators, such as the Salpeter equation.
Other applications of the procedure focus on quasiparticle reductions of the Bethe-Salpeter equation. Additional interests include the general
properties of nonlocal wave equations and the detailed calculation of meson properties with QCD-based phenomenological potentials, such as Richardson's
potential.
References:
1. Fulcher, Physical Review D50, 447 (1994)
2. Baker, Ball and Zachariasen, Physical Review D51, 1968 (1996)
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