The mixing of the f0(1370), f0(1500) and f0(1710) and the search for the scalar glueball

For the first time a complete data set of the two-body decays of the f(0)(1370), f(0)(1500) and f(0)(1710) into all pseudoscalar mesons is available. The implications of these data for the flavour content for these three f(0) states is studied. We find that they are in accord with the hypothesis that the scalar glueball of lattice QCD mixes with the q (q) over bar nonet that also exists in its immediate vicinity. We show that this solution also is compatible with the relative production strengths of the f(0)(1370), f(0)(1500) and f(0)(1710) in pp central production, p (p) over bar annihilations and J/psi radiative decays. (C)2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.