Hadron physics with functional methods

Abstract

We give a pedagogical introduction to hadron spectroscopy and structure studies using functional methods. We explain the basic features of Dyson-Schwinger, Bethe-Salpeter and Faddeev equations, which are employed to calculate the spectra of mesons, baryons and four-quark states. We discuss dynamical mass generation as a consequence of the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry, which is intertwined with the emergence of the light pions as Goldstone bosons of QCD. We highlight the importance of diquark correlations in the baryon sector, while for four-quark states such as the light scalar mesons and heavy exotics the dominant two-body clusters are typically mesons. We conclude with a brief discussion of hadron matrix elements like electromagnetic form factors and how vector-meson dominance is an automatic outcome of functional equations.