MESON-PHOTON TRANSITION FORM-FACTORS AND RESONANCE CROSS-SECTIONS IN E(-) COLLISIONS()E()

Meson-photon-photon transition form factors for S-, P-, and D-wave sta tes are calculated, the meson being treated as a non-relativistic heav y-quark-antiquark pair. The full dependence on both photon virtualitie s is included. Cross-section formulas for charge-conjugation even meso ns with J(P) = 0(-), 0(+), 1(+), 2(+), and 2(-) in electron-positron c ollisions are presented and numerical results for LEP energies are giv en. In particular, we find two-photon event rates for chi(cl) eta(c) ( 2S), and eta(b) (1S) within reach of LEP. With minor modifications to incorporate SU(3)-flavour breaking we estimate rates for 18 light meso ns as well, based on the observation that their two-photon decay width s agree remarkably well with measured data. Finally we point out that e(+)e(-) cross sections for 1(+) states do not vanish at low Q(2), the Landau-Yang suppression factors of the two-photon cross sections bein g compensated by the photon propagators. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V .