Quantum Chromodynamics and Its Symmetries

Quantum chromodynamics, originally formulated more than four decades ago, is generally considered as the basic quantum field theory of strong interactions. It has been quite successful in explaining a wealth of hadron properties and hadronic reactions, even though a comprehensive solution is still missing and several aspects are not yet fully understood, such as the mechanisms of mass generation, the dynamics of confinement, or the QCD phase diagram at finite temperatures and densities.

Depending on the energy/temperature/density ranges, QCD exhibits various properties that are connected with different manifest or broken symmetries such as chiral or heavy-quark symmetries. Effective field theories and various models incorporating the relevant symmetries have been successful in describing QCD in certain domains. All these descriptions should be consistent with corresponding ab-initio solutions of QCD on the lattice.

Among the burning open questions is notably the nature of the QCD phase diagram. E.g., recent lattice-QCD calculations towards finite temperatures hint to a yet unobserved symmetry that may shed new light on the roles of the chromo-electric and chromo-magnetic interactions in the high-temperature phase of QCD and thus the nature of matter beyond phase transitions.

Twenty years after the first QCD symposium of this series in 1998 we are organizing the eighth such meeting with the focus on "QCD and Its Symmetries". It will be carried out as a WE-Heraeus Seminar in the charming little town of Oberwölz situated amidst the Styrian Alps. Participation is limited to about 65 attendees.