Opening Remarks at Chiral Dynamics 2006:Experimental Tests of Chiral Symmetry Breaking

Abstract

A physical introduction to the basics of chiral dynamics is presented. Emphasis is placed on experimental tests which have generally demonstrated a strong confirmation of the predictions of chiral perturbation theory, a low energy effective field theory of QCD. Special attention is paid to a few cases where discrepancies exist, requiring further work. Some desirable future tests are also recommended.

15 pages, 4 figures, slightly revised and corrected version