Quarkonia

Abstract

In the following we are going to consider hadronic bound-states. The simplest example are heavy quark-antiquark (c$\bar C$ and b$\bar b$) pairs, which are known as quarkonia. Due to the large quark masses they may be approximately treated in a nonrelativistic manner. The hydrogen atom and positronium will serve as electromagnetic analogues.

Analogy is perhaps the physicist’s most powerful conceptual tool for understanding new phenomena or opening new areas of investigation. Early in this century, for example, Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr conceived the atom as a miniature solar system in which electrons circle the nucleus as planets circle the sun.

V. L. Telegdi [Te62]