Non-self-conjugate mesons in a potential model with vacuum-polarization corrections

We present a unified approach to the study of non-self-conjugate mesons including both light and heavy mesons in the framework of the vacuum-polarization-corrected flavor-independent potential. We have found that the quark-confining potential in the form of an almost equal admixture of vector and scalar parts successfully explains the $S$-wave hyperfine levels of the observed light and heavy mesons. Finally we calculate the electromagnetic mass differences of the heavy-quark mesons and obtain $({\overline{K}}^{*0\mathrm{}}-K^{*-})=3.79\mathrm{}$ MeV, $({\overline{K}}^0-K^{-})=6\mathrm{}$ MeV, $(D_c^{*+}-D_c^{*0\mathrm{}}=2.4\mathrm{}$ MeV, $(D_c^{+}-D_c^0)=5.8\mathrm{}$ MeV, $(D_b^{*0\mathrm{}}-D_b^{*-})=3.547\mathrm{}$ MeV, and $(D_b^0-D_b^{-})=3.558\mathrm{}$ MeV.