We formulate the covariant equations for quark-antiquark bound states in Minkowski space in the framework of the covariant spectator theory. The quark propagators are dressed with the same kernel that describes the interaction between different quarks. We show that these equations are charge-conjugation invariant, and that in the chiral limit of vanishing bare quark mass, a massless pseudoscalar bound state is produced in a Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) mechanism, which is associated with the Goldstone boson of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. In this introductory paper, we test the formalism by using a simplified kernel consisting of a momentum-space $\delta$ function with a vector Lorentz structure, to which one adds a mixed scalar and vector confining interaction. The scalar part of the confining interaction is not chirally invariant by itself, but decouples from the equations in the chiral limit and therefore allows the NJL mechanism to work. With this model we calculate the quark mass function, and we compare our Minkowski-space results to lattice QCD data obtained in Euclidean space. In a companion paper, we apply this formalism to a calculation of the pion form factor.

In this work we compare mass spectra and decay constants obtained from two recent, independent, and fully relativistic approaches to the quarkonium bound-s

The $\pi$-$\pi$ scattering amplitude calculated with a model for the quark-antiquark interaction in the framework of the covariant spectator theory (CST) is shown to satisfy the Adler zero constraint imposed by chiral symmetry. The CST formalism is established in Minkowski space and our calculations are performed in momentum space. We prove that the axial-vector Ward-Takahashi identity is satisfied by our model. Then we show that, similar to what happens within the Bethe-Salpeter formalism, application of the axial-vector Ward-Takahashi identity to the CST $\pi$-$\pi$ scattering amplitude allows us to sum the intermediate quark-quark interactions to all orders. The Adler self-consistency zero for $\pi$-$\pi$ scattering in the chiral limit emerges as the result for this sum.

The pion electromagnetic form factor at spacelike momentum transfer is calculated in relativistic impulse approximation using the covariant spectator theory. The same dressed quark mass function and the equation for the pion bound-state vertex function as discussed in the companion paper are used for the calculation, together with a dressed quark current that satisfies the Ward-Takahashi identity. The results obtained for the pion form factor are in agreement with experimental data, they exhibit the typical monopole behavior at high-momentum transfer, and they satisfy some remarkable scaling relations.

The relativistic point-form formalism that we proposed for the study of the electroweak structure of few-body bound states is applied to calculate the elastic form factors of spin-1 mesons, such as the $$\rho${}$, within constituent-quark models. We treat electron-meson scattering as a Poincar\'e-invariant coupled-channel problem for a Bakamjian-Thomas mass operator and extract the meson current from the resulting invariant 1-photon-exchange amplitude. Wrong cluster properties inherent in the Bakamjian-Thomas framework are seen to cause spurious contributions in the current. These contributions, however, can be separated unambiguously from the physical ones and we end up with a meson current with all required properties. Numerical results for the $$\rho${}$-meson form factors are presented assuming a simple harmonic-oscillator bound-state wave function. The comparison with other approaches reveals a remarkable agreement of our results with those obtained within the covariant light-front scheme proposed by Carbonell et al. [Phys. Rep. 300, 215 (1998)].

Relativistic equations of Bethe-Salpeter type for hadron structure are most conveniently formulated in momentum space. The presence of confining interactions causes complications because the corresponding kernels are singular. This occurs not only in the relativistic case but also in the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation where this problem can be studied more easily. For the linear confining interaction the singularity reduces to one of Cauchy principal value form. Although this singularity is integrable, it still makes accurate numerical solutions difficult. We show that this principal value singularity can be eliminated by means of a subtraction method. The resulting equation is much easier to solve and yields accurate and stable solutions. To test the method’s numerical efficiency, we perform a three-parameter least-squares fit of a simple linear-plus-Coulomb potential to the bottomonium spectrum.