Soft-wall model of AdS/QCD: The case of light scalar mesons

We study light scalar mesons in the AdS/QCD soft-wall model with a background dilaton field, to investigate the features of this approach in describing QCD properties in the strong coupling regime. We find that the masses and decay constants are compatible with experiment and QCD determinations if $a_0(980)$ and $f_0(980)$ are identified as the lightest scalar mesons; moreover, the states are organized in linear Regge trajectories with the same slope of vector mesons. Strong couplings of scalar states to pairs of light pseudoscalar mesons turn out to be small, at odds with experiment and QCD estimates: this discrepancy is related to the description of chiral symmetry breaking in this holographic model.