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# Exchange Current Operators and Electromagnetic Dipole Transitions in Heavy Quarkonia

## 1 Introduction

The radiative decays of heavy quarkonia ($`c\overline{c}`$, $`b\overline{b}`$, $`c\overline{b}`$) have drawn much interest, as they can provide direct information on both the heavy quarkonium wavefunctions and the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction. Theoretical descriptions range from potential models  \- , QCD sum rules , Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET)  to Non-Relativistic QCD (NRQCD) . As experimental data of a reasonable quality exists for a number of transitions in the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ systems , a fair assessment of the quality of model predictions is already possible. The measured $`\gamma `$ decays in the charmonium ($`c\overline{c}`$) system include the E1 transitions $`\chi _{cJ}J/\psi \gamma `$ and $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$, as well as the spin-flip M1 transitions $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$ and $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$. The situation in the bottomonium ($`b\overline{b}`$) system is, however, less satisfactory as the total widths of the $`\chi _{bJ}`$ states are not known, and none of the spin-flip M1 decays observed.

Previous calculations of the widths for E1 transitions in heavy quarkonia  have acheived qualitative agreement with experiment. However, the situation concerning the M1 transitions has remained unsatisfactory for a long time  as the width for $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$ has typically been overpredicted by a factor of $`3`$. Calculations of M1 widths using the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation  have demonstrated that the M1 transitions in charmonium are sensitive both to the relativistic aspects of the spin-flip operator as well as the Lorentz structure of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction. The results obtained in ref.  suggest that a scalar confining interaction may explain the observed width of $`1`$ keV for $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$, provided that an unapproximated expression for the single quark spin-flip operator is used. However, as many of the M1 transitions are very sensitive to the exact form of the spin-flip operator and the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ wavefunctions, a more realistic model for the wavefunctions of heavy quarkonia is called for.

This paper reports a comprehensive calculation of the E1 and M1 transitions in heavy quarkonia, as well as the magnetic moment of the $`B_c^\pm `$ ($`c\overline{b},b\overline{c}`$) meson, within the framework of the covariant Blankenbecler-Sugar (BSLT) equation . The $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction Hamiltonian is formed of scalar confining and vector one-gluon exchange (OGE) components, in addition to a small instanton induced interaction . The hyperfine components of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction have been fully taken into account, which is found to be important for several E1 and M1 transitions, in line with the conclusion reached in ref. . On the other hand, the elimination of the negative energy components of the Bethe-Salpeter equation leads to the appearance of two-quark transition operators . These exchange current operators, which depend explicitly on the Lorentz coupling structure of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction, have been shown to give large corrections to the single quark transition operators .

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the exchange current contributions to the electric and magnetic dipole operators for the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction Hamiltonian described above. The contributions from exchange charge operators to the E1 transition rates are shown to be highly suppressed by the large masses of the charm and bottom quarks. However, it is found that the exchange magnetic moment operator associated with the scalar confining component of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction gives a large contribution, which makes it possible to bring the calculated width for $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$ into agreement with the observed width of $`1`$ keV. It is also found that the empirical width of $`1`$ keV for the forbidden transition $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$ may be similarly explained if a relativistic single-quark spin-flip operator is employed togehter with wavefunctions that model the spin-spin splitting of the $`\psi `$ states. This provides evidence in favor of a dominant scalar Lorentz structure for the effective linear confining interaction, as an effective vector interaction gives a vanishing contribution to the spin-flip operator for M1 transitions in the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ systems . On the other hand, for the $`B_c^\pm `$ the OGE interaction contributes an exchange magnetic moment operator that counteracts that from the scalar confining interaction.

The layout of this paper is as follows: Section 2 presents the transition operators for E1 and M1 decay, while section 3 deals with the Hamiltonian model and $`Q\overline{Q}`$ wavefunctions, along with formulas for the E1 and M1 widths. Section 4 presents the numerical results for the radiative decays and the $`B_c^\pm `$ magnetic moment, and section 5 contains a discussion of the obtained results.

## 2 The Electric Dipole and Magnetic Moment Operators

### 2.1 The Charge Density and Electric Dipole Operators

From the $`S`$-matrix element for one-photon emission by a two-quark system,

$$S_{fi}=if\left|\delta _1\delta _2\widehat{\epsilon }_\mu J_\mu \right|i,$$
(1)
where $`\delta _{1,2}`$ are four-momentum conserving delta functions for quarks 1 and 2, and $`J_\mu `$ is the current operator of the two-quark system, the electromagnetic transition amplitude for $`Q\overline{Q}`$ systems is obtained, in the impulse approximation, as

$$T_{fi}=d^3r_1d^3r_2\phi _f^{}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)\widehat{\epsilon }\left[e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}_1}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_1(\stackrel{}{q})+e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}_2}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_2(\stackrel{}{q})\right]\phi _i(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2),$$
(2)
where $`\stackrel{}{q}`$ and $`\widehat{\epsilon }`$ denote the momentum and polarization of the emitted photon, respectively, while $`\phi _i`$ and $`\phi _f`$ denote the orbital wavefunctions of the initial and final heavy quarkonium states. In the above equation, $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}_2`$ denote the single quark current operators of quarks 1 and 2, respectively. Note that the current operator $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}(\stackrel{}{q})`$ corresponds to the quantity in square brackets in eq. (2). The amplitude for a $`\gamma `$ transition is then

$$T_{fi}=i|\stackrel{}{q}|d^3r_1d^3r_2\phi _f^{}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)\widehat{\epsilon }\stackrel{}{d}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)\phi _i(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2),$$
(3)
where the dipole operator $`\stackrel{}{d}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)`$ is of the form

$$\stackrel{}{d}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)=d^3r^{}e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}^{}}\stackrel{}{r}^{}\rho (\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2).$$
(4)
In order to distinguish the above model from the rigorous E1 approximation, it will be referred to as ”dynamical” throughout this paper. The E1 approximation is then obtained in the limit $`\stackrel{}{q}0`$. If contributions to the charge operator $`\rho (\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r})`$, that are proportional to higher powers of the photon momentum are to be included, then the usefulness of the dynamical model is apparent. More significantly, the dynamical model allows the recoil of the heavy meson to be accounted for.

The charge density operator $`\rho (\stackrel{}{r}^{})`$ contains, in addition to the single quark contribution $`\rho _{\mathrm{sq}}`$, an exchange part $`\rho _{\mathrm{ex}}`$, which arises from processes that are illustrated by the diagrams shown in Fig. 1. These contributions arise from the elimination of the negative energy components in the reduction of the Bethe-Salpeter equation to a BSLT (or Schrödinger) equation. An obvious constraint is that two-quark contributions to the charge density should have vanishing volume integrals.

Consider first the single quark charge operator $`\rho _{\mathrm{sq}}(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r})=\rho _1(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_1)+\rho _2(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_2)`$. The corresponding dipole operator may be expressed as

$$\stackrel{}{d}_{\mathrm{sq}}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)=Q_1\stackrel{}{r}_1e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}_1}+Q_2\stackrel{}{r}_2e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}_2},$$
(5)
where $`Q_1`$ and $`Q_2`$ are the appropriate electric charges of the constituent charm and bottom quarks. Note that $`Q_1`$ is taken to be the charge of the heavy quark, while $`Q_2`$ denotes that of the heavy antiquark. Relativistic modifications to the above expression will be considered further on. Insertion of eq. (5) into eq. (3) yields the amplitude

$$T_{fi}=i|\stackrel{}{q}_f|(2\pi )^3\delta ^3(P_fP_iq_f)d^3r\phi _f^{}(\stackrel{}{r})\widehat{\epsilon }\stackrel{}{d}(\stackrel{}{r})\phi _i(\stackrel{}{r}),$$
(6)
where $`\stackrel{}{r}=\stackrel{}{r}_1\stackrel{}{r}_2`$, to which the contribution from the single quark dipole operator (5) is

$$\stackrel{}{d}_{\mathrm{sq}}(\stackrel{}{r})=\left[\frac{Q_1m_2Q_2m_1}{m_1+m_2}\right]\stackrel{}{r}e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}/2},$$
(7)
where $`\stackrel{}{r}=\stackrel{}{r}_1\stackrel{}{r}_2`$. Again, the E1 expression  is obtained by dropping the exponential in eq. (7) and setting $`\stackrel{}{q}_f=0`$ in the delta function in eq. (6). Note that for the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ systems, the factor in brackets in eq. (7) reduces to the charge of the charm and bottom quark, respectively.

Consider next the two-quark exchange charge operators from the Born diagrams given in Fig. 1. If those operators are decomposed according to $`\rho _{\mathrm{ex}}(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)=\rho _{\mathrm{ex1}}(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_1)+\rho _{\mathrm{ex2}}(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_2)`$, then the exchange charge contribution to the two-quark dipole operator

$$\stackrel{}{d}_{\mathrm{ex}}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)=d^3r^{}e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}^{}}\stackrel{}{r}^{}\rho _{\mathrm{ex}}(\stackrel{}{r}^{},\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2)$$
(8)
may be expressed as

$$\stackrel{}{d}_{\mathrm{ex1}}(\stackrel{}{r}_1)=\stackrel{}{r}_1e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}_1}\frac{d^3k_2}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}_2\stackrel{}{r}}\rho _{\mathrm{ex1}}(\stackrel{}{q}_f,\stackrel{}{k}_2)\underset{qq_f}{lim}\left[e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}_1}i_\stackrel{}{q}\frac{d^3k_2}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}_2\stackrel{}{r}}\rho _{\mathrm{ex1}}(\stackrel{}{q},\stackrel{}{k}_2)\right],$$
(9)
from which the E1 approximation can again be obtained by setting $`q_f0`$.

Having established eq. (9), the relativistic modifications to the single quark charge operator as well as the two-quark exchange charge operators from Fig. 1 may be considered. To second order in $`v/c`$, the single quark charge operator may be expressed in the form

$$\rho _{\mathrm{sq}}Q_1\left[1\frac{\stackrel{}{q}^2}{8m^2}+\frac{i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}\times \stackrel{}{p}_1}{4m^2}\right]+(12),$$
(10)
where it is understood that the contribution from quark 2 is obtained by replacing the indices accordingly. The second term on the r.h.s. is the relativistic Darwin-Foldy term. It will be shown that the effect of this term is very small because of the large masses of the heavy constituent quarks. Note that this expansion is justified by the small coefficient of the $`q^2`$ term; It has been shown in ref.  that such an expansion cannot be used for the magnetic moment operator. The spin-orbit term in eq. (10) is linear in the photon momentum $`\stackrel{}{q}`$ and will be left out in this work because of its smallness. For transitions between $`S`$-wave states, this term vanishes entirely . Note that in the E1 approximation, the contribution from the Darwin-Foldy term to the dipole operator will likewise vanish.

The exchange charge density operators that are associated with the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction have been calculated in ref. , where the appropriate operators were extracted for different Lorentz invariants for systems composed of quarks with equal masses. When generalized to the case of unequal quark masses, the required operators are obtained as

$$\rho _{\mathrm{ex}}^\mathrm{c}=\frac{Q_1}{4m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}}q^2V_c(\stackrel{}{k}_2)+\frac{Q_2}{4m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}}q^2V_c(\stackrel{}{k}_1)$$
(11)
for the scalar confining interaction, and

$$\rho _{\mathrm{ex}}^\mathrm{g}=\frac{Q_1}{4m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\left[\frac{\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}_2}{m_1}+\frac{2}{3}\frac{\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}_2\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2}{m_2}\right]V_g(\stackrel{}{k}_2)+\frac{Q_2}{4m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\left[\frac{\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}_1}{m_2}+\frac{2}{3}\frac{\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{k}_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2}{m_1}\right]V_g(\stackrel{}{k}_1)$$
(12)
for the vector coupled OGE interaction. In the above expressions, $`V_c`$ and $`V_g`$ denote the momentum space forms of the confining and OGE interactions, respectively. Note that the terms in eqs. (11) and (12) that depend on $`\stackrel{}{k}_2`$ correspond to the contribution $`\rho _{\mathrm{ex1}}`$ in eq. (9) and vice versa. In the E1 approximation, the contribution to the dipole operator from eq. (11) vanishes, while in the dynamical model, evaluation of eq. (9) yields, analogously to eq. (7),

$$\stackrel{}{d}_{\mathrm{ex}}^{\mathrm{Conf}}(\stackrel{}{r})=q_f^2\left[\frac{Q_1}{4m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}}\frac{m_2}{m_1+m_2}\frac{Q_2}{4m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}}\frac{m_1}{m_1+m_2}\right]\stackrel{}{r}V_c(r)e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}/2},$$
(13)
where the scalar confining interaction is of the form $`V_c(r)=cr`$. Note that the second term in eq. (9) vanishes because $`\stackrel{}{q}\widehat{\epsilon }=0`$. On the other hand, the OGE expression (12) gives a contribution, the dominant term of which is

$$\stackrel{}{d}_{\mathrm{ex}}^{\mathrm{Oge}}(\stackrel{}{r})=\left[\frac{Q_1}{4m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\left(\frac{1}{m_1}+\frac{2}{3}\frac{\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2}{m_2}\right)\frac{Q_2}{4m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\left(\frac{1}{m_2}+\frac{2}{3}\frac{\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2}{m_1}\right)\right]\stackrel{}{r}\left(\frac{V_g(r)}{rr}\right)e^{i\stackrel{}{q}_f\stackrel{}{r}/2}.$$
(14)
Here $`V_g(r)`$ denotes the form of the OGE interaction in configuration space, and is here taken to be the Fourier transform of eq. (32). This choice allows the inclusion of the running coupling of QCD. Note that eq. (14) gives a non-vanishing contribution also in the E1 approximation.

### 2.2 The Current Density and Magnetic Moment Operators

In the impulse approximation, the spin-flip magnetic moment operator for M1 transitions between $`S`$-wave heavy quarkonium states may be obtained from the amplitude

$$T_{fi}=(2\pi )^3\delta ^3(P_fP_iq_f)d^3r\phi _f^{}(\stackrel{}{r})\widehat{\epsilon }\left[e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}/2}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_1(\stackrel{}{q})+e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}/2}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_2(\stackrel{}{q})\right]\phi _i(\stackrel{}{r}),$$
(15)
where $`\stackrel{}{r}=\stackrel{}{r}_1\stackrel{}{r}_2`$. The corresponding matrix element for an M1 transition may be written in the form

$$_{fi}=id^3r\phi _f^{}(\stackrel{}{r})\stackrel{}{q}\times \widehat{\epsilon }\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{sf}}\phi _i(\stackrel{}{r}),$$
(16)
where $`\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{sf}}`$ denotes the spin-flip part of the standard magnetic moment operator. In addition to the single quark current operators in eq. (15), the negative energy Born diagrams in Fig. 1 contribute a two-quark current operator $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex}}`$. Decomposition of the single quark current into contributions from quark 1 and 2 according to $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{sq}}=\stackrel{}{ȷ}_1+\stackrel{}{ȷ}_2`$ yields the magnetic moment operator

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{sq}}=\underset{\stackrel{}{q}0}{lim}\left[\frac{i}{2}_q\times \left(e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}/2}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_1(\stackrel{}{q})+e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}/2}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_2(\stackrel{}{q})\right)\right],$$
(17)
in the nonrelativistic impulse approximation (NRIA). However, previous work has demonstrated that the static magnetic moment operators of the baryons are significantly modified by the canonical boosts of the constituent quark spinors . In ref. , it was shown that the static spin-flip magnetic moment operators for M1 decay of $`Q\overline{Q}`$ states are also significantly affected, despite the large masses of the charm and bottom constituent quarks.

The matrix element that corresponds to eq. (16) in the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) may be obtained as

$$_{fi}^{\mathrm{Rel}}=i\frac{d^3P}{(2\pi )^3}d^3rd^3r^{}e^{i\stackrel{}{P}(\stackrel{}{r}^{}\stackrel{}{r})}\phi _f^{}(\stackrel{}{r}^{})\stackrel{}{q}\times \widehat{\epsilon }\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{sq}}^{\mathrm{Rel}}(\stackrel{}{P})\phi _i(\stackrel{}{r}),$$
(18)
where the final and initial state coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r}^{}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{r}`$ are defined as $`\stackrel{}{r}_1^{}\stackrel{}{r}_2^{}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{r}_1\stackrel{}{r}_2`$ respectively. In eq. (18), the momentum variable $`\stackrel{}{P}`$ is defined as $`\stackrel{}{P}=(\stackrel{}{p}^{}+\stackrel{}{p})/2`$, where $`\stackrel{}{p}^{}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ are the relative momenta in the representation $`\stackrel{}{p}_1=\stackrel{}{P}_i/2+\stackrel{}{p}`$, $`\stackrel{}{p}_2=\stackrel{}{P}_i/2\stackrel{}{p}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{p}_1^{}=\stackrel{}{P}_f/2+\stackrel{}{p}^{}`$, $`\stackrel{}{p}_2^{}=\stackrel{}{P}_f/2\stackrel{}{p}^{}`$. The relativistic single quark magnetic moment operator that appears in the matrix element (18) can be obtained from eq. (17) by the substitution $`\stackrel{}{r}(\stackrel{}{r}^{}+\stackrel{}{r})/2`$.

In the nonrelativistic case, the spin-dependent part of the single quark current operator $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{sq}}=\stackrel{}{ȷ}_1+\stackrel{}{ȷ}_2`$ is of the form

$$\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{sq}}^{\mathrm{spin}}=\frac{ie}{2}(\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)\times \stackrel{}{q}\left[\frac{Q_1}{2m_1}+\frac{Q_2}{2m_2}\right]+\frac{ie}{2}(\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)\times \stackrel{}{q}\left[\frac{Q_1}{2m_1}\frac{Q_2}{2m_2}\right].$$
(19)
The first term, which vanishes for equal mass quarkonia, describes the magnetic moment of the two-quark system whereas the second term is the spin-flip operator for M1 decay in the nonrelativistic impulse approximation (NRIA). The corresponding spin-flip operator in the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) has been calculated in refs. , and may for transitions between $`S`$-wave states be expressed as

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{sq}}^{\mathrm{Rel}}=\frac{e}{2}\left[\frac{Q_1}{2m_1}f_1^\gamma \frac{Q_2}{2m_2}f_2^\gamma \right](\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2),f_i^\gamma =\frac{m_i}{3E_i}\left[2+\frac{m_i}{E_i}\right],$$
(20)
with $`E_i=\sqrt{P^2+m_i^2}`$. It is apparent from the above expression that the relativistic treatment will effectively weaken the NRIA result.

The relativistic Born diagrams in Fig. 1 contribute significant two-quark exchange currents that give rise to two-quark magnetic moment operators . This situation is akin to that for the magnetic moments of the baryons , but in that case additional complications arise from flavor dependent meson exchange interactions. Decomposition of the exchange current operator according to $`\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex}}(\stackrel{}{q},\stackrel{}{k}_1,\stackrel{}{k}_2)=\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex1}}(\stackrel{}{q},\stackrel{}{k}_2)+\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex2}}(\stackrel{}{q},\stackrel{}{k}_1)`$ yields the exchange magnetic moment operator

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{ex}}=\underset{\stackrel{}{q}0}{lim}\left[\frac{i}{2}_q\times \left(e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}/2}\frac{d^3k_2}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}_2\stackrel{}{r}}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex1}}(\stackrel{}{q},\stackrel{}{k}_2)+e^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}/2}\frac{d^3k_1}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}_1\stackrel{}{r}}\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex2}}(\stackrel{}{q},\stackrel{}{k}_1)\right)\right].$$
(21)
However, the exchange magnetic moment operators turn out to be difficult to calculate directly from the above equation. Instead, they can be conveniently extracted from the expression

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{ex}}=\underset{\stackrel{}{q}0}{lim}\left[\frac{i}{2}\frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{r}}_q\times \left\{\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex1}}\left(\frac{\stackrel{}{q}}{2}+\stackrel{}{k}\right)+\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex2}}\left(\frac{\stackrel{}{q}}{2}\stackrel{}{k}\right)\right\}\right],$$
(22)
where $`\stackrel{}{k}_2=\stackrel{}{k}+\stackrel{}{q}/2`$ and $`\stackrel{}{k}_1=\stackrel{}{k}+\stackrel{}{q}/2`$. By means of eq. (22), it is now possible to consider the two-quark current operators for the scalar confining and vector OGE interactions, as calculated from the diagrams in Fig. 1 by refs. . The two-quark current operator associated with the scalar confining interaction is of the form

$$\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex}}^\mathrm{c}=e\left(\frac{Q_1^{}\stackrel{}{P}_1}{m_1^2}+\frac{Q_2^{}\stackrel{}{P}_2}{m_2^2}+\frac{i}{2}(\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)\times \stackrel{}{q}\left[\frac{Q_1^{}}{2m_1^2}+\frac{Q_2^{}}{2m_2^2}\right]+\frac{i}{2}(\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)\times \stackrel{}{q}\left[\frac{Q_1^{}}{2m_1^2}\frac{Q_2^{}}{2m_2^2}\right]\right),$$
(23)
in which case the two-quark magnetic moment operator is most conveniently computed using eq. (21), as the spin part of eq. (23) depends explicitly on the photon momentum $`\stackrel{}{q}`$. In the above equation, the variables $`Q_1^{}`$ and $`Q_2^{}`$ are defined as $`Q_1^{}=V_c(\stackrel{}{k}_2)Q_1`$ and $`Q_2^{}=V_c(\stackrel{}{k}_1)Q_2`$, respectively. The corresponding current operator for the OGE interaction may be expressed as

$$\stackrel{}{ȷ}_{\mathrm{ex}}^\mathrm{g}=e\left(Q_1^{}\left[\frac{i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\times \stackrel{}{k}_2}{2m_1^2}+\frac{2\stackrel{}{P}_2+i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2\times \stackrel{}{k}_2}{2m_1m_2}\right]+Q_2^{}\left[\frac{i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2\times \stackrel{}{k}_1}{2m_2^2}+\frac{2\stackrel{}{P}_1+i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\times \stackrel{}{k}_1}{2m_1m_2}\right]\right),$$
(24)
with $`Q_1^{}=V_g(\stackrel{}{k}_2)Q_1`$ and $`Q_2^{}=V_g(\stackrel{}{k}_1)Q_2`$. As the above equation depends only on $`\stackrel{}{k}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{}{k}_2`$, the OGE magnetic moment operator is most conveniently calculated using eq. (22). By Fourier transformation, the resulting magnetic moment operators for transitions between $`S`$-wave quarkonium states may be obtained as

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{ex}}^{\mathrm{Conf}}=\frac{eV_c(r)}{4}\left\{\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1^2}\frac{Q_2}{m_2^2}\right](\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)+\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1^2}+\frac{Q_2}{m_2^2}\right](\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)\right\}$$
(25)
for the scalar confining interaction, and

$$\stackrel{}{\mu }_{\mathrm{ex}}^{\mathrm{Oge}}=\frac{eV_g(r)}{8}\left\{\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1^2}\frac{Q_2}{m_2^2}\frac{Q_1Q_2}{m_1m_2}\right](\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)+\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1^2}+\frac{Q_2}{m_2^2}+\frac{Q_1+Q_2}{m_1m_2}\right](\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2)\right\}$$
(26)
for the OGE interaction. For equal constituent quark masses, eqs. (25) and (26) reduce to the expressions given in ref. . Note that the presence of a spin-flip term in the OGE operator (26) is solely a consequence of the difference in mass between the constituent quarks, and will thus not contribute to the M1 decay widths of the charmonium and bottomonium states. Similarly, the terms that are symmetric in the quark spins vanish for equal mass quarkonia. However, in the case of the $`B_c^\pm `$ system, these terms will contribute to the magnetic moment of the $`c\overline{b}`$ system. Also the spin-flip M1 decays in the $`B_c^\pm `$ system will receive a contribution from the OGE operator.

## 3 Wavefunctions and Decay Widths

### 3.1 Hamiltonian model

The interaction Hamiltonian employed in this paper for the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction contains contributions from the scalar confining, the vector one-gluon exchange (OGE), and the instanton induced interaction of ref. . This Hamiltonian is thus of the form

$$H_{\mathrm{int}}=V_{\mathrm{Conf}}+V_{\mathrm{Oge}}+V_{\mathrm{Inst}},$$
(27)
and has been employed together with the covariant Blankenbecler-Sugar (BSLT) equation. That equation may be expressed as an eigenvalue equation of the form

$$(H_0+H_{\mathrm{int}})\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{nlm}}(\stackrel{}{r})=\epsilon (E,M_Q,M_{\overline{Q}})\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{nlm}}(\stackrel{}{r}),$$
(28)
where $`H_0`$ denotes the kinetic energy operator of the nonrelativistic Schrödinger equation and the eigenvalue $`\epsilon (E,M_Q,M_{\overline{Q}})`$ is a quadratic mass operator  which is related to the energy $`E`$ of the heavy quarkonium state according to

$$\epsilon =\frac{\left[E^2(M_Q+M_{\overline{Q}})^2\right]\left[E^2(M_QM_{\overline{Q}})^2\right]}{8\mu E^2}$$
(29)
where $`\mu `$ is the reduced mass of the quark-antiquark system. As the details of the interaction Hamiltonian (27) have already been described in ref. , only the main points will be repeated here. The interaction operators $`V`$ in eq. (27), which in general are nonlocal, may be obtained from the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ irreducible quasipotential $`𝒱`$ according to

$$V(\stackrel{}{p}^{},\stackrel{}{p})=\sqrt{\frac{M_Q+M_{\overline{Q}}}{W(\stackrel{}{p}^{})}}𝒱(\stackrel{}{p}^{},\stackrel{}{p})\sqrt{\frac{M_Q+M_{\overline{Q}}}{W(\stackrel{}{p})}},$$
(30)
where the function $`W`$ is defined as $`W(\stackrel{}{p})=E_Q(\stackrel{}{p})+E_{\overline{Q}}(\stackrel{}{p})`$ with $`E_i(\stackrel{}{p})=\sqrt{M_i^2+\stackrel{}{p}^2}`$. Note that in the Born approximation the quasipotential $`𝒱`$ is set equal to the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ invariant scattering amplitude $`𝒯`$, whereby a constructive relation to field theory obtains.

The OGE interaction in momentum space can be parameterized  in terms of the strong coupling $`\alpha _s(k^2)`$ according to

$$V_{\mathrm{Oge}}(\stackrel{}{k})=\frac{16\pi }{3}\frac{\alpha _s(\stackrel{}{k}^2)}{\stackrel{}{k}^2},\alpha _s(\stackrel{}{k}^2)=\frac{12\pi }{27}\mathrm{ln}^1\left[\frac{\stackrel{}{k}^2+4m_g^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}^2}\right].$$
(31)
Here $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}`$ denotes the QCD scale of $`250`$ MeV, and $`m_g`$ is a dynamical gluon mass which determines the low-momentum behavior of $`\alpha _s`$. Application of eq. (31) together with eq. (30) yields the central and spin-dependent potential components of the OGE interaction, and are given in ref. . For example, if all higher order nonlocalities are dropped, the central Coulomb component of the OGE interaction is modified to

$$V_{\mathrm{Oge}}(r)=\frac{4}{3}\frac{2}{\pi }_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑kj_0(kr)\frac{M_Q}{e_Q}\frac{M_{\overline{Q}}}{e_{\overline{Q}}}\left(\frac{M_Q+M_{\overline{Q}}}{e_Q+e_{\overline{Q}}}\right)\alpha _s(k^2),$$
(32)
where the factors $`e_Q`$ and $`e_{\overline{Q}}`$ are defined as $`e_Q=\sqrt{M_Q^2+k^2/4}`$ and $`e_{\overline{Q}}=\sqrt{M_{\overline{Q}}^2+k^2/4}`$. If $`\alpha _s`$ is taken to be constant, then the above form reduces to the Coulombic potential suggested by perturbative QCD in the limit $`M_Q\mathrm{}`$. On the other hand, the Fourier transform of a linear confining potential of the form $`V_{\mathrm{Conf}}=cr`$ may be expressed as

$$V_{\mathrm{Conf}}(r)=\underset{\lambda 0}{lim}\frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}e^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{r}}\frac{8\pi c}{k^4}\left[\frac{4\lambda ^2k^4}{(\lambda ^2+k^2)^3}\frac{k^4}{(\lambda ^2+k^2)^2}\right].$$
(33)
For the purpose of calculating the spin-orbit term associated with the scalar confining interaction, the limit $`\lambda 0`$ may be taken directly to yield $`V_{\mathrm{Conf}}(\stackrel{}{k})=8\pi c/k^4`$. Finally the instanton induced interaction is expressed as

$$V_{\mathrm{Inst}}(r)=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }M_Q\mathrm{\Delta }M_{\overline{Q}}}{4n}_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑kk^2j_0(kr)\left(\frac{M_Q+M_{\overline{Q}}}{e_Q+e_{\overline{Q}}}\right)\frac{M_QM_{\overline{Q}}}{e_Qe_{\overline{Q}}},$$
(34)
where the notation is similar to that employed in ref. . The parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }M_Q`$ denotes the mass shift of the heavy constituent quark due to the instanton induced interaction, which for a charm quark is of the order $`100`$ MeV . The parameter $`n`$ represents the instanton density, which is usually taken to be $`1\mathrm{fm}^4`$. Note that in the limit of infinitely heavy constituent quarks, eq. (34) reduces to a delta function. The above smeared out form is convenient since it allows for direct numerical treatment of the instanton induced interaction with the differential equation (28).

The wavefunctions needed for the calculation of the E1 and M1 widths of the heavy quarkonia are thus taken to be the solutions to eq. (28) obtained in ref. . As the spin-spin interaction in the charmonium system is strong enough to produce a $`J/\psi \eta _c`$ splitting of $`120`$ MeV, then the respective radial wavefunctions are likely to show marked differences. Thus the employment of spin-averaged wavefunctions and a perturbative treatment of the spin-dependent hyperfine interaction is undesirable. With this in mind, the hyperfine components of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction have been taken fully into account, which is possible since they are nonsingular in the BSLT framework. In particular, it is expected that such effects should be significant for transitions which involve a change in the principal quantum number of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ state. The effect of the $`S`$-wave spin-spin interaction on the radial wavefunctions is demonstrated by Fig. 2. The calculated spectra of the heavy quarkonia and the model parameters are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

### 3.2 Widths for radiative decay

The decay width for an E1 dominated transition of the type $`\chi _{cJ}J/\psi \gamma `$ or $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$ is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=𝒮_{fi}\frac{2J_f+1}{3}q^3\alpha \frac{M_f}{M_i}\left[\frac{4}{9}|_0|^2+\frac{8}{9}|_2|^2\right],$$
(35)
where $`J_f`$ is the total angular momentum of the final quarkonium state, and $`q`$ is the momentum of the emitted photon. One would thus expect that the widths for $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$ with $`J=0,1,2`$ would scale as $`1:\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}:\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5}`$ respectively. In practice, however, this result is modified by the large hyperfine splittings in the $`L=1`$ heavy quarkonia. The factor $`𝒮_{fi}`$ is defined as in ref.  and assumes the values $`𝒮_{fi}=1`$ for a triplet-triplet transition and $`𝒮_{fi}=3`$ for a singlet-singlet transition of the type $`h_c\eta _c\gamma `$. On the other hand, the widths for transitions between $`D`$\- and $`P`$-wave states are calculated according to

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}\hspace{0.25em}4}𝒮_{fi}\frac{2J_f+1}{27}q^3\alpha \frac{M_f}{M_i}|_0|^2,𝒮_{fi}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}\hspace{0.25em}18}\left\{\begin{array}{ccc}2& 1& J_d\\ J_p& 1& 1\end{array}\right\}^2,$$
(36)
where $`J_d`$ and $`J_p`$ are the total angular momenta of the $`D`$\- and $`P`$-wave states, respectively. Note that the triangularity of the 6-j symbol requires that $`|J_dJ_p|`$ = 1 or 0. Consequently, transitions that change the value of $`J`$ by more than one unit are forbidden. In eqs. (35) and (36), $`_0`$ and $`_2`$ denote radial matrix elements for $`S`$\- and $`D`$-wave photon emission, respectively. The radial matrix element for $`S`$-wave decay receives contributions not only from the impulse approximation, eq. (7), but also from the confinement and OGE operators (13) and (14). That matrix element may thus be expressed as

$$_0=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rru_f(r)u_i(r)j_0\left(\frac{qr}{2}\right)\left[Q_{\mathrm{IA}}+q^2V_c(r)Q_c+\left(\frac{V_g(r)}{rr}\right)Q_g\right],$$
(37)
where $`u_i`$ and $`u_f`$ are the reduced radial wavefunctions for the initial and final heavy quarkonium states. Similarly, the matrix element for $`D`$-wave decay is of the form

$$_2=Q_{\mathrm{ID}}_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rru_f(r)u_i(r)j_2\left(\frac{qr}{2}\right).$$
(38)
The contribution from this matrix element is generally very small, and has therefore not been included in eq. (36).

The impulse approximation charge factor $`Q_{\mathrm{IA}}`$, and the exchange charge factors $`Q_c`$ for the scalar confining interaction and $`Q_g`$ for the OGE interaction that appear in eqs. (37) and (38) are of the form

$$Q_{\mathrm{IA}}=\left[Q_1\left(1\frac{q^2}{8m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\right)\frac{m_2}{m_1+m_2}Q_2\left(1\frac{q^2}{8m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\right)\frac{m_1}{m_1+m_2}\right]$$
(39)
for the impulse approximation, where the quark charge operators have been multiplied with the Darwin-Foldy terms from eq. (10), and

$`Q_c`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q_1}{4m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_2}{m_1+m_2}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q_2}{4m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_1}{m_1+m_2}}\right],`$ (40)
$`Q_g`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q_1}{4m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{m_1}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{S_f|\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2|S_i}{m_2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{Q_2}{4m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{m_2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{S_f|\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2|S_i}{m_1}}\right)\right],`$ (41)
for the confinement and OGE exchange charge contributions, respectively. In the spin dependent terms of eq. (41), $`S_i`$ and $`S_f`$ denote the total spins of the initial and final quarkonium states. For triplet-triplet and singlet-singlet transitions, $`S_f|\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2|S_i=+1`$ and $`3`$, respectively. The charge factor $`Q_{\mathrm{ID}}`$ that appears in eq. (38) is defined according to $`Q_{\mathrm{ID}}=lim_{q0}Q_{\mathrm{IA}}`$. This is permissible since the Darwin-Foldy and exchange charge terms are very small compared to the dominant dipole contribution, which in itself is already insignificant because of the suppression by the $`j_2`$ function in the matrix element. There is thus no need to include these terms in the matrix element $`_2`$ for $`D`$-wave decay.

In the E1 approximation, the recoil factor $`M_f/M_i`$ vanishes by eq. (6), since in that case $`\stackrel{}{P}_f=\stackrel{}{P}_i`$. The decay width expression (35) thus reduces to

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{E1}}=𝒮_{fi}\frac{2J_f+1}{27}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}4}q_{\mathrm{nr}}^3\alpha |\underset{q0}{lim}_0|^2,$$
(42)
in the E1 approximation, which is similar to the expression given in ref. . Here the ”recoilless” $`q`$-value is given by $`q_{\mathrm{nr}}=M_iM_f`$. Note that the OGE exchange charge contribution survives in the E1 approximation, whereas the contribution from the scalar confining interaction as well as the Darwin-Foldy terms are eliminated.

The expression for the width of a spin-flip M1 transition between $`S`$-wave heavy quarkonium states can be written in the form

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{M1}}=\frac{16}{2S_i+1}q^3\alpha \frac{M_f}{M_i}|_\gamma |^2,$$
(43)
where $`_\gamma `$ denotes the radial matrix element for M1 decay and $`S_i`$ is the total spin of the initial state. The radial matrix element for M1 decay consists of relativistic impulse approximation, scalar confining and OGE components, according to

$$_\gamma =_\gamma ^{\mathrm{RIA}}+_\gamma ^{\mathrm{Conf}}+_\gamma ^{\mathrm{Oge}},$$
(44)
where the different matrix elements can be obtained from the corresponding spin-flip magnetic moment operators by dropping the charge $`e`$ and the spinors $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }_1\stackrel{}{\sigma }_2`$. From the relativistic matrix element (18) and the relativistic spin-flip magnetic moment operator (20), one obtains

$$_\gamma ^{\mathrm{RIA}}=\frac{2}{\pi }_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r^{}r^{}u_f(r^{})_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rru_i(r)_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑PP^2\frac{1}{4}\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1}f_1^\gamma \frac{Q_2}{m_2}f_2^\gamma \right]j_0\left(r^{}P\right)j_0\left(rP\right),$$
(45)
where the factors $`f_i^\gamma `$ are given by eq. (20). The matrix elements associated with the scalar confining and vector OGE interactions are of the form

$$_\gamma ^{\mathrm{Conf}}=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ru_f(r)u_i(r)\frac{V_c(r)}{4}\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\frac{Q_2}{m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\right],$$
(46)
for the scalar confining interaction, and

$$_\gamma ^{\mathrm{Oge}}=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ru_f(r)u_i(r)\frac{V_g(r)}{8}\left[\frac{Q_1}{m_1^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\frac{Q_2}{m_2^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\frac{Q_1Q_2}{m_1m_2}\right],$$
(47)
for the OGE interaction.

It should be noted at this point that the appearance of two-quark matrix elements as given above is entirely due to the elimination in the impulse approximation of the negative energy components in the reduction of the Bethe-Salpeter equation to a Blankenbecler-Sugar equation. These components do however contribute as transition matrix elements, and have to be included in the Blankenbecler-Sugar (or Schrödinger) framework as explicit two-quark current operators , as illustrated in Fig. 1. In e.g. the alternate Gross type reduction of the Bethe-Salpeter equation, these two-quark operators are automatically taken into account by the single quark transition operators.

### 3.3 Magnetic moment of the $`B_c^\pm `$

Of the heavy quarkonium systems, only the spin-triplet $`B_c^\pm `$ ($`c\overline{b}`$, $`\overline{c}b`$) states have a magnetic moment. That may be calculated from the spin-symmetric part of eq. (19). When expressed in terms of the nuclear magneton $`\mu _N`$, the magnetic moment of the $`B_c^+`$ ($`c\overline{b}`$) state is obtained as

$$\mu _{c\overline{b}}=\frac{m_p}{3}\left[\frac{2}{m_c}+\frac{1}{m_b}\right]\mu _N,$$
(48)
where $`m_p`$ is the proton mass. The above expression is valid in the nonrelativistic limit. Since it is known that the magnetic moments of the baryons receive significant corrections from relativistic effects , then a relativistic version of eq. (48) is called for. In the relativistic impulse approximation, the magnetic moment of an $`S`$-wave $`c\overline{b}`$ state is of the form

$$\mu _{c\overline{b}}^{\mathrm{RIA}}=\frac{2}{\pi }_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑r𝑑r^{}rr^{}u(r)u(r^{})_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑PP^2\frac{m_p}{3}\left[\frac{2}{m_c}f_c^\gamma +\frac{1}{m_b}f_b^\gamma \right]j_0\left(r^{}P\right)j_0\left(rP\right)\mu _N,$$
(49)
where $`u(r)`$ is the reduced radial wavefunction of the $`c\overline{b}`$ state. In eq. (49), the factors $`f_i^\gamma `$ are defined in eq. (20). In addition to the relativistic impulse approximation, the exchange magnetic moment operators associated with the scalar confining and vector OGE interactions will also contribute to the magnetic moment of the $`B_c^\pm `$. The contribution from the scalar confining interaction is of the form

$$\mu _{c\overline{b}}^{\mathrm{Conf}}=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ru^2(r)V_c(r)\frac{m_p}{3}\left[\frac{2}{m_c^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}+\frac{1}{m_b^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}\right]\mu _N,$$
(50)
where the confining interaction $`V_c(r)`$ is of the form $`V_c(r)=cr`$. Similarly, the OGE contribution can be expressed as

$$\mu _{c\overline{b}}^{\mathrm{Oge}}=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑ru^2(r)V_g(r)\frac{m_p}{6}\left[\frac{2}{m_c^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}+\frac{1}{m_b^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}}+\frac{3}{m_cm_b}\right]\mu _N,$$
(51)
where the OGE potential $`V_g(r)`$ is given by the Fourier transform of eq. (31). The total magnetic moment of the $`B_c^\pm `$ is thus given by the sum of the RIA contribution (49) and the exchange contributions (50) and (51).

## 4 Numerical Results

This section presents the numerical values of the widths and matrix elements for each E1 and M1 transition, as obtained using the model for the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ spectra presented in section 3.1. Unless otherwise indicated, the E1 widths have been calculated using eqs. (35), (36), (37) and (38), while the widths for M1 decay correspond to eqs. (43) and (44). When the mass of one of the quarkonium states is not known empirically, then the splittings rather than the absolute values from Table 1 are used to determine the photon momentum $`q_\gamma `$.

The widths for M1 transitions between $`S`$-wave states in charmonium and bottomonium are given in Table 3, along with the associated impulse approximation and exchange current matrix elements. For $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$, the width for M1 decay is given by the sum of the impulse approximation and scalar confinement terms. In the case of the $`B_c^\pm `$, the widths for M1 decay also receive a contribution from the OGE exchange current. The M1 widths and magnetic moments of the $`B_c^\pm `$ states are given in Tables 10 and 13, respectively. The widths of the E1 dominated transitions between low-lying $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ states are given in Tables 4567 and 8. They have been calculated both for the dynamical model presented in section 2.1 and the rigorous E1 approximation. The computed widths for E1 dominated transitions in the $`B_c^\pm `$ system are given, along with the matrix elements, in Tables 911 and 12.

## 5 Discussion

It is instructive to compare the numerical results of the previous section both with experiment and with those of other theoretical calculations, as there are several issues that are not readily apparent by casual inspection of the data presented in Tables 3 through 13. A direct comparison with the experimental averages given in ref.  may be misleading, as the branching fractions for various transitions are typically better known than the total width of the decaying state. Also, as recently published results  for $`\chi _{cJ}J/\psi \gamma `$ indicate that these E1 widths are significantly larger than previously thought , then a review of the model predictions is called for.

### 5.1 M1 transitions in the $`c\overline{c}`$ system

* $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$

The observed width of $`1.14\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.39}`$ keV for the M1 transition $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$ has been difficult to explain theoretically , since previous calculations typically overestimate it by a factor $`3`$. A possible solution for this overprediction, already hinted at in ref. , is presented in Table 3, where the exchange current contribution from the scalar confining interaction brings the width down to the desired level. However, as shown in ref. , expansion of the RIA spin-flip operator to order $`v^2/c^2`$ overestimates the correction to the static quark model result, and in that case the usefulness of the exchange current contribution is not apparent. The importance of negative energy components for the transition $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$ has also been established within the instantaneous approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation in ref.  and the Schrödinger approach in ref. , where widths close to that given in Table 3 were obtained for a scalar confining interaction. If the whole $`Q\overline{Q}`$ potential had effective vector coupling structure, then no exchange current contribution would arise, as a vector interaction contributes a spin-flip operator only if the quark and antiquark masses are unequal, and agreement with experiment would thus be excluded. Other possible solutions include the introduction of a large anomalous magnetic moment for the charm quark , but this possibility has apparently not been substantiated.
* $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$

This nonrelativistically forbidden M1 transition has also proved theoretically challenging, since the (near) orthogonality of the quarkonium wavefunctions leads to model-dependent results. In the recent calculation by ref. , where good agreement with experiment was found for $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$, the width for $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$ was however overpredicted by almost an order of magnitude. The present calculation gives a width of $`1.1`$ keV for that transition, which is close to the empirical value $`0.84\pm \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.24}`$ keV . This result is, however, not robust. That such a favorable result is obtained depends delicately on several factors, such as the employment of $`\psi ^{}`$ and $`\eta _c`$ wavefunctions that include the spin-spin interaction in the $`S`$-wave, and the choice of approximation for the M1 matrix element.

The amplitude (15) has the advantage of allowing the use of a realistic photon momentum in the expression (43) for the M1 width. It is useful to note that this treatment yields the same spin-flip operators than had the rigorous M1 approximation been used, as in the calculation of the exchange magnetic moment operators in refs. . Furthermore, the M1 approximation has been taken to affect the entire factor in brackets in eq. (15). If the exponentials were separated from the current operators in eq. (15), then the width for $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$ would be overpredicted by a factor $`4`$. However, if spin-averaged wavefunctions were employed, as in ref. , then the conclusion would be exactly the opposite; In that case the present treatment would lead to unfavorable results. As seen from Table 3, the exchange current operator associated with the scalar confining interaction gives the main contribution to the width for $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$ within this calculation. The present treatment of the M1 approximation may be regarded as consistent since it leads to the correct spin-flip operators and simultaneously allows the recoil of the $`\eta _c`$ to be taken into account. Further modifications to the M1 width for $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$ may result from a relativistic treatment of the exchange current operator (23) and consideration of possible $`D`$-wave admixture in the $`\psi ^{}`$ state due to the OGE tensor interaction.

### 5.2 M1 transitions in the $`b\overline{b}`$ and $`c\overline{b}`$ systems

* $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\eta _b\gamma `$

A reasonable prediction for the width of the M1 transition $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\eta _b\gamma `$ can be obtained as soon as the mass of the $`\eta _b`$ state is constrained by experiment, as the contributions from two-quark operators are suppressed by the large mass of the $`b`$ quark. The unceratinty in the constituent mass (4885 MeV) of the $`b`$ quark is also nowadays rather small . As realistic models of the spin-spin splittings for $`S`$-wave quarkonia give an $`\eta _b`$ mass around 9400 MeV, then the width for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\eta _b\gamma `$ is likely to be less than 10 eV, as given in Table 3. However, the reliability of such predictions cannot be tested until the $`\eta _b`$ state is discovered empirically.
* $`B_c^{}B_c\gamma `$

At this time, the photon momenta involved in calculations of M1 widths in the $`c\overline{b}`$ system have to be extracted from model calculations of the $`c\overline{b}`$ mass spectrum. As shown in ref. , the mass of the spin triplet $`B_c^{}`$ state is rather well constrained, and is expected to be about 6350 MeV. However, there is in general no such agreement for the magnitude of the $`B_c^{}B_c`$ splitting, which determines the photon momentum of the $`B_c^{}B_c\gamma `$ transition. Realistic models for the spin-spin interaction in the $`S`$-wave appear to favor a small splitting of $`40`$ MeV. In spite of this, the computed width for $`B_c^{}B_c\gamma `$ of 34 eV given in Table 10 compares well with the $`29`$ eV predicted by ref. , even though exchange current contributions were not considered in that work. It is noteworthy that the exchange current contribution from the OGE interaction is dominant for $`c\overline{b}`$ and leads to a slight increase of the width for $`B_c^{}B_c\gamma `$. Because of this cancellation, the nonrelativistic width is quite close to the net result.

Predictions have also been given, in Tables 3 and 10, for M1 transitions between $`Q\overline{Q}`$ states that lie below the respective fragmentation thresholds. Notable among these is $`\psi ^{}\eta _c^{}\gamma `$, which is similar to $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$. However, the suppression due to the scalar confining interaction is stronger as the $`2S`$ wavefunctions have a longer range. Also, as recent experimental results indicate that the mass of the $`\eta _c^{}`$ is larger than previously thought , then the phase space available for $`\psi ^{}\eta _c^{}\gamma `$ is also suppressed. Consequently the predicted width is also smaller than the values suggested by previous work . As for the transition $`\psi ^{}\eta _c\gamma `$, the width for $`\eta _c^{}J/\psi \gamma `$ is also sensitive to the particulars of the model because of cancellations in the matrix element and the large photon momentum. The results in Table 3 suggest that the width for this transition should be around 2 keV. As the experimental situation concerning the $`\eta _c^{}`$ continues to improve, then the width for $`\eta _c^{}J/\psi \gamma `$ may possibly be measured in the near future.

In the case of the $`b\overline{b}`$ system, the number of measurable M1 transitions is larger since the $`3S`$ states of bottomonium lie below the threshold for $`B\overline{B}`$ fragmentation. The results of Table 3 indicate that most M1 transitions in the $`b\overline{b}`$ system are difficult to calculate accurately, and therefore provide an instructive test for model predictions. In particular, the widths for transitions that do not change the principal quantum number of the quarkonium state are predicted to be highly suppressed, whereas the widths for transitions from excited $`\eta _b`$ states to the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ ground state are predicted to have larger widths of about 100 eV.

### 5.3 E1 transitions in the $`c\overline{c}`$ system

While the M1 transitions in heavy quarkonia are sensitive to the Lorentz structure of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction, the E1 transitions have been shown here to receive only small contributions from the exchange current operators of Fig. 1. They typically increase the value of the matrix element so that its value in the dynamical model is between those in the impulse and E1 approximations. On the other hand, the matrix element of the dipole operator is sensitive to the shape of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ wavefunctions, and thus a realistic description of the E1 widths requires that the hyperfine components of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ interaction are not treated as first order perturbations. This conclusion is in line with that reached in ref. , which employed the nonsingular $`Q\overline{Q}`$ potential model of ref. . Comparisons between the present results, those of previous calculations and experiment are given for several E1 transitions in $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ in Tables 14 and 15.

* $`\chi _{cJ}J/\psi \gamma `$

Predictions for the E1 transitions from the spin-triplet $`P`$-wave states in charmonium should be robust, as the quarkonium wavefunctions involved do not contain any nodes. The systematic overprediction of these widths by $`20\%`$, as indicated by the empirical data of ref. , has therefore been puzzling. However, in view of the most recent experimental data , this issue is apparently resolved. As seen from Table 14, models which consider the recoil of the $`J/\psi `$ reproduce the empirical results remarkably well. In contrast, the rigorous E1 approximation leads to overpredictions of $`50\%`$.
* $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$

The E1 transitions from the $`\psi ^{}`$ state have, in general, been difficult to predict, since the E1 approximation has typically overestimated the empirical widths by at least a factor $`2`$. The latest experimental data for the branching fractions for $`\gamma `$ decay and total width of the $`\psi ^{}`$ suggests that the widths for $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$ should be around 25 keV, while the E1 approximation typically yields widths in excess of 40 keV. The results for $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$ obtained by ref.  within the framework of the instantaneous approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation, are also of the order $`40`$ keV. Recoil effects cannot account for this overprediction, as they are much weaker than for the $`\chi _{cJ}J/\psi \gamma `$ transitions. However, inspection of Table 14 reveals that the predicted relative widths are also not in agreement with experiment, although the uncertainties are considerable. This suggests a sensitivity to small changes in the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ wavefunctions, which is indeed revealed by inspection of the matrix elements in Table 4. The present empirical data suggests that the width for $`\psi ^{}\chi _{c2}\gamma `$ should be the smallest. Of the models presented in Table 14, the present one comes closest to this result. It should also be noted that significant reductions of the E1 widths have been obtained in ref.  by consideration of closed $`c\overline{q}q\overline{c}`$ fragmentation channels.

The predicted widths for E1 transitions from the $`\psi (3S)`$ state have also been given in Table 4. The results suggest that the widths for transitions to the $`2P`$ states should be comparable to those for the $`\psi ^{}\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$ transitions. On the other hand, the widths for the $`\psi (3S)\chi _{cJ}\gamma `$ transitions are predicted to be smaller by a factor $`4`$. The empirical detection of any of these transitions will probably be challenging since the $`\psi (3S)`$ state decays mainly through $`D\overline{D}`$ fragmentation. However, the photon produced in the $`h_c\eta _c\gamma `$ transition will probably be detected in the near future, as that state lies well below the $`D\overline{D}`$ fragmentation threshold. The results presented in Table 14 suggest that the E1 width for that transition is the largest in the $`c\overline{c}`$ system. However, the uncertainty in that prediction is somewhat larger because of recoil effects and the hitherto uncertain mass of the $`h_c`$ state. Of particular interest are also the E1 transitions from the $`{}_{}{}^{3}D_{1}^{}`$ state given in Table 6, as that state probably corresponds to the empirical $`\psi (3770)`$ resonance. The calculated widths suggest that the transitions to the $`\chi _{c1}`$ and $`\chi _{c0}`$ states should be detectable by experiment, whereas that to the $`\chi _{c2}`$ state is highly suppressed by the statistical factor $`𝒮_{fi}`$.

### 5.4 E1 transitions in the $`b\overline{b}`$ system

The number of measurable E1 transitions in the $`b\overline{b}`$ system is larger than in the $`c\overline{c}`$ system, as the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)`$ state lies below the threshold for $`B\overline{B}`$ fragmentation. While the branching fractions for several of the transitions presented in Table 15 have been measured, only very few of the total widths are known. This is due to the narrowness of the $`b\overline{b}`$ states, which makes a direct determination of their widths difficult. It is therefore instructive to compare the predicted E1 widths with those of other models, as well as with experiment. A review of the most important E1 transitions in Table 15 is given below.

* $`\chi _{bJ}\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\gamma `$

The calculated widths for $`\chi _{bJ}\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\gamma `$ agree rather well with those of the previous calculations presented in Table 15, although they are generally somewhat larger. The results of the present calculation suggest that the total width of the $`\chi _{b2}`$ state should be $`164\pm 22`$ keV and that of the $`\chi _{b1}`$ $`93\pm 22`$ keV. Similarly, the total width of the $`\chi _{b0}`$ is probably larger than $`440`$ keV. This situation is similar to that observed for $`c\overline{c}`$ , where the $`\chi _{c2}`$ is wider than the $`\chi _{c1}`$ by about a factor $`2`$.
* $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^{}\chi _{bJ}\gamma `$

The largest uncertainty concerning the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)\chi _{bJ}\gamma `$ is the measurement of the total width of the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)`$ state. Originally given as $`27`$ keV, it now stands at $`44\pm 7`$ keV . Thus the model predictions in Table 15, which originally fitted the experimental data well, no longer do so satisfactorily. It is therefore very difficult to judge the quality of any given prediction until the experimental situation is stabilized. Still, it is noteworthy that the present calculation does give slightly better agreement with experiment than the previous models in Table 15.
* Transitions from the $`\chi _{bJ}^{}`$ states

The E1 transitions from the $`\chi _{bJ}(2P)`$ states in bottomonium provide a useful test for theoretical models since experimental data now exists on all six branching fractions , even though the total widths of the $`\chi _{bJ}(2P)`$ states are not known. The experimental results indicate that the widths for transitions to the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ should be about one half of those for transitions to the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)`$, even though much more phase space is available for the former. Indeed, it can be seen from Table 15 that the model of ref. , where spin-averaged wavefunctions were employed, does not compare very well with the experimental branching fractions even though the hyperfine splittings of the $`\chi _{bJ}(2P)`$ states are quite small. A realistic description of these transitions requires that the hyperfine effects are accounted for by the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ wavefunctions, in which case the computed E1 widths agree much better with experiment.

As the calculated widths for $`\chi _{bJ}(2P)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)\gamma `$ are almost the same in ref.  and the present model, then it is possible to obtain realistic estimates for the total widths of the $`\chi _{bJ}(2P)`$ states from the measured branching fractions for the E1 transitions $`\chi _{bJ}(2P)\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)\gamma `$. The width of the $`\chi _{b2}(2P)`$ state is then predicted to be $`100\pm 15`$ keV, while that of the $`\chi _{b1}(2P)`$ is $`72\pm 14`$ keV. The $`\chi _{b0}(2P)`$ state appears to be significantly broader, but because of the large errors in the reported E1 branching fractions, only a rough estimate of $`267\pm 140`$ keV is possible.
* Transitions from the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^{\prime \prime }`$ state

As the reported total width of the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)`$ state , $`26.3\pm 3.5`$ keV, is better known than that of the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)`$ state, then it is expected that systematic uncertainties in the reported experimental results for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{bJ}(2P)\gamma `$ should be smaller than for the analogous $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(2S)\chi _{bJ}\gamma `$ transitions. By inspection of Table 15, it can be seen that the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{bJ}(2P)\gamma `$ transitions are generally rather well described by a number of models, although the calculation of ref. , where spin-averaged wavefunctions were employed, appears to underpredict the empirical widths. Also, the results of ref.  appear to compare slightly more favorably with experiment than does the present calculation.

On the other hand, the situation concerning the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{bJ}\gamma `$ transitions remains unsettled because of a strong cancellation in the E1 matrix element. As all of the models presented in Table 15 predict different widths for the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{bJ}\gamma `$ transitions, then only experimental determination of the widths can settle the question. However, this may turn out to be a formidable task since all models predict widths that are an order of magnitude smaller than that of any previously measured E1 transition in the $`b\overline{b}`$ system. It is seen by inspection of Table 5 that the calculated widths in the E1 approximation are similar to those of ref.  in that the width for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{b1}\gamma `$ is vanishingly small. However, the dynamical model predicts that the width for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{b0}\gamma `$ should be the largest and that for $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{b2}\gamma `$ the smallest. It is encouraging that the same pattern is also predicted in Table 4 for the analogous transitions in the $`c\overline{c}`$ system, where the widths are much larger relative to the other E1 transitions. It is also noteworthy that the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)\chi _{bJ}\gamma `$ transitions obtain an appreciable contribution from the matrix element $`_2`$ in Table 5.

In addition to the transitions considered in Table 15, the E1 decays of the spin-singlet $`h_b`$ and $`\eta _b`$ states and the lightest spin-triplet $`D`$-wave states have also been calculated in Tables 57 and 8. No empirical data exists as yet on any of these states. The pattern of E1 widths for these states is predicted to be similar to that for the analogous states in the $`c\overline{c}`$ system, although the widths are much smaller for $`b\overline{b}`$ because of the narrower wavefunctions involved.

### 5.5 E1 transitions in the $`c\overline{b}`$ system

As the magnetic moment operators of a $`Q\overline{Q}`$ system have been derived in this work, then the magnetic moment of the $`S`$-wave spin-triplet $`B_c^{}`$ states have been calculated as an interesting by-product. It is seen from Table 13 that the magnetic moments also receive significant corrections from the two-quark operators considered in this paper. This is not surprising since the situation is similar for the M1 decays of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ systems. Inspection of Table 13 reveals that the net relativistic decrease of the $`B_c^{}`$ magnetic moment amounts to about 15 %, and that the exchange current contributions actually increase the net magnetic moment slightly. This situation was also noted for the M1 transition $`B_c^{}B_c\gamma `$. However, because of the short-range nature of the OGE interaction, its contribution quickly becomes subdominant for the higher $`S`$-wave states. The predicted magnetic moments of the $`B_c^{}`$ mesons are in line with the work of ref.  on the magnetic moments of the baryons.

### 5.6 Other frameworks

The masses, radiative transitions and other properties of the heavy quarkonia have also been investigated within the frameworks of QCD sum rules , Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET)  and Non-Relativistic QCD (NRQCD) . It is of particular interest to compare the results of the present calculation with those of ref. , where the E1 transitions between $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ states were considered. The results of ref.  are presented in terms of an ”effective” matrix element $`\delta `$, from which the dependence on the angular momenta of the $`Q\overline{Q}`$ states and the momentum of the emitted photon has been extracted. The theoretical uncertainties are therefore concentrated into the parameter $`\delta `$. As that parameter is closely related to the radial matrix element $`_0`$ for E1 decay, a direct comparison between the present work and that of ref.  is possible. Such a comparison is given in Table 17. In addition, the width for the E1 transitions $`h_c\eta _c\gamma `$ was in ref.  obtained as $`450`$ keV, which in view of the somewhat larger photon momentum of ref.  compares reasonably well with the present value of 370 keV.

### 5.7 Conclusions

The conclusion of this work concerning the exchange current operators and the associated two-quark E1 and M1 operators is that they play a major role in spin-flip M1 transitions, whereas they are insignificant for the E1 transitions. The reason for the smallness of the exchange charge contributions to the E1 widths is the large masses of the charm and bottom quarks, as those contributions are proportional to $`m^3`$. However, as suggested in ref. , such operators may be significant when light ($`400`$ MeV) constituent quarks are involved.

A satisfactory description of the M1 widths of charmonium was achieved in this work, under the assumption that the effective confining interaction is purely scalar. This is in line with the results of ref. , where the width for $`J/\psi \eta _c\gamma `$ was found to be well described by an effective scalar confining interaction within the framework of the instantaneous approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation. This is reassuring since it has been shown in ref.  that models (of equal mass quarkonia) which employ an effective linear vector confining interaction or a superposition of scalar and vector confining interactions with positive weights are inconsistent with the properties of QCD.

It should be noted that the instanton induced interaction for $`Q\overline{q}`$ and $`Q\overline{Q}`$ systems, as given by ref. , may also contribute a significant two-quark exchange charge operator. For light constituent quarks, such contributions may be large whereas they are much smaller for charm quarks . A calculation of the associated spin-flip operators for M1 transitions could therefore provide useful and constraining information on the strength of the effective instanton induced interaction in mesons with heavy quarks.

Acknowledgments

The author expresses his thanks to Prof. Dan-Olof Riska for his valuable input on the E1 transitions, to Dr. Christina Helminen for instructive conversations concerning the derivation of the exchange charge operators, and to the Waldemar von Frenckell foundation for a fund grant during the completion of this work.