Dynamics of light and heavy bound quarks

A simple relativistic potential model is constructed in order to describe meson spectroscopy in a unified way, encompassing both light- and heavy- quark systems. A linear potential, transforming as the fourth component of a vector potential, is assumed in accordance with quark-confinement mechanisms appropriate to gauge theories. Scaling arguments are used to derive the Regge behavior of the model. We present evidence that the forces which confine quarks are essentially independent of quark species. The over-all systematics of our predictions for meson energy levels and leptonic decay widths give support to the usefulness of the model. We comment on the application of asymptotic freedom as a means of estimating decay rates which violate Zweig's rule.