Chiral Extrapolation, Renormalization, and the Viability of the Quark Model

Adam P. Szczepaniak, Eric S. Swanson

Published 2000-06-27, updated 2001-06-08Version 2

The relationship of the quark model to the known chiral properties of QCD is a longstanding problem in the interpretation of low energy QCD. In particular, how can the pion be viewed as both a collective Goldstone boson quasiparticle and as a valence quark antiquark bound state where universal hyperfine interactions govern spin splittings in the same way as in the heavy quark systems. We address this issue in a simplified model which; however, reproduces all features of QCD relevant to this problem. A comparison of the many-body solution to our model and the constituent quark model demonstrates that the quark model is sufficiently flexible to describe meson hyperfine splitting provided proper renormalization conditions and correct degrees of freedom are employed consistently.