Threshold Effects in Heavy Quarkonium Spectroscopy and Decays

The possible importance of threshold effects in heavy quarkonium spectroscopy is discussed. The starting point is the calculation of the spectrum of heavy quarkonium-like states with self-energy/threshold corrections. Two different approaches are compared: I) The Unquenched Quark Model (UQM); II) A novel coupled-channel model, based on the UQM formalism. The latter provides a possible solution to the long-standing problem of convergence in UQM calculations; it also makes it possible to distinguish between states which are almost pure quarkonia and exotic states, characterized by non-negligible threshold (or continuum) components in their wave functions. The UQM-based coupled-channel model is used to study the $\chi_{\rm c}(2P)$ and $\chi_{\rm b}(3P)$ multiplets: $\chi_{\rm c}(2P)$'s are described as charmonium-like states with non-negligible molecular-type components in their wave functions, $\chi_{\rm b}(3P)$'s as almost pure bottomonia. Other possible applications of the UQM and the UQM-based coupled-channel model formalisms to the calculation of other observables, like the strong decay amplitudes, are also discussed.