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QCD sum rule study of excited light meson operators

Wei-Han Tan, Wen-Ying Liu, Hong-Zhou Xi, and Hua-Xing Chen ^*

School of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 210094, China

^*Contact author: hxchen@seu.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. D 112, 054040 – Published 23 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z6gt-3js6

Abstract

We apply the QCD sum rule method to systematically study excited light meson operators and calculate their decay constants. These operators are constructed by explicitly adding one covariant derivative to the quark-antiquark pair. In total, twelve such operators are constructed, among which ten are subjected to detailed numerical analyses. The considered quark contents include $\bar{q} q$ , $\bar{q} s$ , and $\bar{s} s$ ( $q = u / d$ ), allowing the formation of various $S U (3)$ flavor nonets. For instance, our results support the interpretation that the $a_{2} (1320)$ , $f_{2} (1270)$ , $f_{2}^{'} (1525)$ , and $K_{2}^{*} (1430)$ states constitute a flavor nonet with quantum numbers $J^{P (C)} = 2^{+ (+)}$ . In addition, we predict several excited meson states, whose masses and decay constants are determined using the QCD sum rule method.

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References (101)

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 054040– Published 23 September, 2025

Vol. 112, Iss. 5 — 1 September 2025

Received 3 June 2025
Accepted 29 August 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z6gt-3js6

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

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QCD sum rule study of excited light meson operators

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