On the mechanism of open-flavor strong decays

Open-flavor strong decays are mediated by qq̄ pair production, which is known to occur dominantly with ³P₀ quantum numbers. The relation of the phenomenological ³P₀ model of these decays to "microscopic" QCD decay mechanisms has never been established clearly. In this paper we investigate qq̄ meson decay amplitudes assuming pair production from the scalar confining interaction (sKS) and from one gluon exchange (OGE). sKS pair production predicts decay amplitudes of approximately the correct magnitude and D/S amplitude ratios in b₁→ωπ and a₁→ρπ which are close to experiment. The OGE decay amplitude is found to be subdominant in most cases, a notable exception being ³P₀→¹S₀+¹S₀. The full sKs + OGE amplitudes differ significantly from ³P₀ model predictions in some channels and can be distinguished experimentally, for example, through an accurate comparison of the D/S amplitude ratios in b₁→ωπ and a₁→ρπ.