Decay of light scalar mesons into vector-photon and into pseudoscalar mesons

Abstract

The decays of a light scalar meson into a vector meson and a photon ($S\to V\gamma )$ are evaluated in the tetraquark and quarkonium assignments of the scalar states. A link with the radiative decays $\varphi \to S\gamma$ is established: experimental results for $S\to V\gamma$ will allow to understand if the direct, quark-loop contribution to $\varphi \to S\gamma$ or the kaon-loop contribution is dominant. Also strong decays $S\to PP$ -where $P$ denotes a pseudoscalar meson- are investigated: the tetraquark assignment works better than the quarkonium one. It is then also discussed why the tetraquark assignment is favoured with respect to a loosely bound kaonic molecular interpretation of $a_0(980)$ and $f_0(980)$ mesons.

Comments: 12 pages, 2 figures, 7 tables