Eur. Phys. J. A (2007) 31: 616-619
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-10182-9

QNP 2006

Retardation effects in the rotating string model

Groupe de Physique Nucléaire Théorique, Université de Mons-Hainaut, Académie universitaire Wallonie-Bruxelles, Place du Parc 20, BE-7000, Mons, Belgium

^* e-mail: fabien.buisseret@umh.ac.be

Received: 8 October 2006
Accepted: 15 October 2006
Published online: 16 February 2007

Abstract

A new method to study the retardation effects in mesons is presented. It is based on a generalized rotating string model, in which a nonzero value of the relative time between the quark and the antiquark is allowed. This approach leads to a retardation term in the Hamiltonian which behaves as a perturbation of the nonretarded Hamiltonian and preserves the Regge trajectories for light mesons. The straight-line ansatz is used to describe the string, and the relevance of this approximation is tested. It is shown that the string is actually curved because of retardation, but this bending does not bring a relevant contribution to the energy spectrum of the model.