Relativistic theory of string breaking in QCD

Abstract: The QCD string breaking due to quark pair creation in the vacuum confining field, possibly accompanied by vector, scalar or Nambu-Goldstone bosons, is studied nonperturbatively. The scalar light pair creation vertex occurs due to chiral symmetry breaking and has a confining form, which is computed explicitly together with subleading vector contributions. Dependence on light quark mass and flavor is specifically studied. The dominant scalar term is in good agreement with the $^3P_0$ model and experimental data.