Loop Corrections in the Constituent Quark Model

Meson spectroscopy has had an extremely busy and productive decade since the discovery of the Ds(2317) and the X(3872). These states have challenged our naive quark model understanding of the mesonic spectra and forced many theorists to revisit their prior assumptions. Since their discovery, many models have been proposed to explain these new states and perhaps predict more states like them. One approach includes virtual meson loops in the constituent quark model and calculates the resulting mass corrections as a possible solution to inconsistency of the new mesons and previous models. In this work we study this model in detail, examining the various approximations and assumptions made in order to determine its viability as an answer to this problem. To do so we use the Quark Pair Creation model for the strong decay vertex. We then apply the model to various mesonic spectra to determine its viability.