Strong and radiative decays of excited vector mesons and predictions for a new ϕ ( 1930 ) resonance

We study the phenomenology of two nonets of excited vector mesons, {ρ(1450),K*(1410),ω(1420),ϕ(1680)} and {ρ(1700),K*(1680),ω(1650),ϕ(???)}, which (roughly) correspond to radially excited 2S31 and to orbitally excited 1D31 vector mesons. We evaluate the strong and radiative decays of these mesons into pseudoscalar and ground-state vector mesons by using an effective relativistic QFT model based on flavor symmetry. We compare decay widths and branching ratios with various experimental results listed in the PDG. An overall agreement of theory with experiment reinforces the standard quark-antiquark assignment of the resonances mentioned above. Predictions for not-yet-measured quantities are also made. In particular, we shall also make predictions for the not-yet-discovered ss¯ state of the 1D31 nonet, denoted as ϕ(???). Its mass can be estimated to be about 1930 MeV; hence we shall call this putative state ϕ(1930). Its main decays are into KK*(892) (about 200 MeV) and KK (about 100 MeV). Since this state couples also to γη, it can be searched for in the near future in the photoproduction-based experiments GlueX and CLAS12 at Jefferson Lab.