Glueball phenomenology and the relativistic flux tube model

The relativistic flux tube model is an effective description of confined quarks and gluons in which the confining interaction is carried by the flux tube, a Nambu-Goto string. We first show that the relativistic flux tube model can be applied to glueballs seen as bound states of transverse constituent gluons. After a comparison of that approach with usual spinless Salpeter Hamiltonians, we compute glueball masses and decay widths. Comments about the $\eta$-$\eta'$-pseudosclar glueball problem, the glueball--Pomeron conjecture, and finite-temperature effects are finally given. We also point out the existence of a duality between open- and closed-flux tube models of glueballs.