  While the ground-state tensor ($J^{PC}=2^{++}$) mesons $a_{2}(1320)$,
$K_{2}^{\ast}(1430)$, $f_{2}(1270)$, and $f_{2}^{\prime}(1525)$ are well known
experimentally and form an almost ideal nonet of quark-antiquark states, their
chiral partners, the ground-states axial-tensor ($J^{PC}=2^{--}$) mesons are
poorly settled: only the kaonic member $K_2(1820)$ of the nonet has been
experimentally found, whereas the isovector state $\rho_2$ and two isoscalar
states $\omega_2$ and $\phi_2$ are still missing. Here, we study masses,
strong, and radiative decays of tensor and axial-tensor mesons within a chiral
model that links them: the established tensor mesons are used to test the model
and to determine its parameters, and subsequently various predictions for their
chiral partners, the axial-tensor mesons, are obtained. The results are
compared to current lattice QCD outcomes as well as to other theoretical
approaches and show that the ground-state axial-tensor mesons are expected to
be quite broad, the vector-pseudoscalar mode being the most prominent decay
mode followed by the tensor-pseudoscalar one. Nonetheless, their experimental
finding seems to be possible in ongoing and/or future experiments.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology