Mass spectra and Regge trajectories of light mesons in the relativistic quark model

Abstract

Masses of the ground state and the orbitally and radially excited states of quark-antiquark mesons composed of light $(u,d,s)$ quarks are calculated within the framework of the relativistic quark model based on the quasipotential approach. The relativistic treatment of the light quark dynamics results in mass spectra which agree well with available experimental data for the masses of the most well-established states. The Regge trajectories for angular and radial excitations are constructed, and their linearity, parallelism, and equidistance are verified. The assignment of experimentally observed light mesons to particular Regge trajectories is based on their masses and quantum numbers.