Abstract. Some recent discoveries in the spectroscopy of hadrons containing heavy quarks, and some of their theoretical interpretations, are reviewed.
IntroductionThe spectroscopy of states containing heavy quarks Q has undergone a great renaissance in recent years, providing an exceptional window into tests of QCD. Quarkonium systems QQ are amenable to perturbative descriptions of their decays. One can study Qq and Qqq hadrons (q = light quark u, d, s) in which the heavy quarks play the role of "nuclei," expanding observables in inverse powers of m Q . Many heavy-quark hadrons have masses and couplings strongly affected by nearby thresholds, as has been known for many years in the physics of atoms and nuclei [1,2,3]. Hadron spectra often are crucial in separating electroweak physics from strong-interaction effects. More broadly, QCD may not be the only instance of important nonperturbative effects. Understanding how such effects are manifested in hadrons may help prepare us for surprises at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Finally, at the quark and lepton level there exists an intricate level structure and a set of transitions calling for fundamental understanding; spectroscopic methods may help.We begin this brief review by outlining some theoretical spectroscopic methods. We then discuss charmed and beauty hadrons, heavy quarkonium (cc, bb), and future prospects.