Unified unquenched quark model for heavy-light mesons with chiral dynamics

In this work, an unquenched quark model is proposed for describing the heavy-light mesons by taking into account the coupled-channel effects induced by chiral dynamics. After including a relativistic correction term for the strong transition amplitudes, both the mass spectra and decay widths of the observed heavy-light mesons can be successfully described simultaneously in a unified framework, several long-standing puzzles related to the small masses and broad widths are overcome naturally. We also provide valuable guidance in searching new heavy-light mesons by the detailed predictions of their masses, widths, and branching ratios. The success of the unquenched quark model presented in this work indicates it may be an important step for understanding the hadron spectrum. Published by the American Physical Society 2024