Pseudovector components of the pion, pi^0 -> gamma gamma, and F_pi(q^2)

Abstract

As a consequence of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking the pion Bethe-Salpeter amplitude necessarily contains terms proportional to gamma_5 gamma.P and gamma_5 gamma.k, where k is the relative and P the total momentum of the constituents. These terms are essential for the preservation of low energy theorems, such as the Gell-Mann--Oakes-Renner relation and those describing anomalous decays of the pion, and to obtaining an electromagnetic pion form factor that falls as 1/q^2 for large q^2, up to calculable ln(q^2)-corrections. In a simple model, which correlates low- and high-energy pion observables, we find q^2 F_pi(q^2) ~ 0.12 - 0.19 GeV^2 for q^2 >~10 GeV^2.