What can we learn about light-meson interactions at electron-positron colliders?

Abstract

Precision studies at electron-positron colliders with center-of-mass energies in the charm-tau region and below have strongly contributed to our understanding of light-meson interactions at low energies. We focus on the processes involving two or three light mesons with invariant masses below nucleon-antinucleon threshold. A prominent role is given to the interactions of the nine lightest pseudoscalar mesons (pions, kaons, $\eta$, and ${\eta }^{\prime }$) and the two narrow neutral isoscalar vector mesons $\omega$ and $\varphi$. Experimental methods used to produce the mesons are reviewed as well as theory tools to extract properties of the meson-meson interactions. Examples of recent results from the DA$\Phi$NE, BEPCII, and VEPP-2000 colliders are presented. In the outlook we briefly discuss prospects for further studies at future super-charm-tau factories.

Comments: 132 pages, 74 figures (v2: typos corrected, references updated, corresponds to the published version)