TETRAQUARK STATES AND SPECTRUM

A general classification of tetraquark states in terms of the spin-flavour, colour and spatial degrees of freedom has been constructed. The permutational symmetry properties of both the spin-flavour and orbital parts of the quark-quark and antiquark-antiquark subsystems are discussed in short. This classification is model indipendent and useful both for model-builders and experimentalists. An evaluation of the tetraquark spectrum is obtained from a generalization of a Iachello mass formula, originally developed for the mesons. The ground state tetraquark nonet is identified with f₀(600), κ(800), f₀ (980), a₀(980).