We explore the consequences of treating the $X(3872)$ meson as a tetraquark bound state. As dynamical framework we employ a relativistic constituent quark model which includes infrared confinement in an effective way. We calculate the decay widths of the observed channels $X\to J/\psi +2\pi (3\pi )$ and $X\to {\overline{D}}^0+D^0+{\pi }^0$ via the intermediate off-shell states $X\to J/\psi +\rho (\omega )$ and $X\to \overline{D}+D^{*}$. For reasonable values of the size parameter ${\Lambda }_X$ of the $X(3872)$ we find consistency with the available experimental data. We also discuss the possible impact of the $X(3872)$ in a s-channel dominance description of the $J/\psi$ dissociation cross section.

• Received 9 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.81.114007