The electromagnetic form factors of light and heavy pseudoscalar mesons are calculated within two covariant constituent-quark models, viz., a light-front and a dispersion relation approach. We investigate the details and physical origins of the model dependence of various hadronic observables: the weak decay constant, the charge radius and the elastic electromagnetic form factor.

The electromagnetic current of spin-1 composite particles does not transform properly under rotations if only the valence contribution is considered in the light-front model. In particular, the plus component of the current, evaluated only for the valence component of the wave function, in the Drell-Yan frame violates rotational symmetry, which does not allow a unique calculation of the electromagnetic form-factors. The prescription suggested by Grach and Kondratyuk [Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 38, 198 (1984)] to extract the form factors from the plus component of the current, eliminates contributions from pair diagrams or zero modes, which if not evaluated properly cause the violation of the rotational symmetry. We address this problem in an analytical and covariant model of a spin-1 composite particle.

The frame dependence of the pair-term contribution to the electromagnetic form factor of the pion is studied within the Light Front approach. A symmetric ansatz for the pion Bethe-Salpeter amplitude with a pseudo scalar coupling of the constituent to the pion field is used. In this model, the pair term vanishes for the Drell-Yan condition, while it is dominant for momentum transfer along the light-front direction.