Eur. Phys. J. C (2014) 74: 2981
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-2981-5

Review

QCD and strongly coupled gauge theories: challenges and perspectives

¹ Physik Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße 1, 85748 , Garching, Germany
² Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, SB RAS, Novosibirsk , 630090, Russia
³ Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk , 630090, Russia
⁴ GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstraße 1, 64291 , Darmstadt, Germany
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY , 40506-0055, USA
⁶ Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL , 60510-5011, USA
⁷ Department of Physics, Washington University, St Louis, MO , 63130, USA
⁸ University of Graz, 8010 , Graz, Austria
⁹ Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 , Wien, Austria
¹⁰ Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD , 20742-4111, USA
¹¹ Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805 , Munich, Germany
¹² Excellence Cluster “Origin and Structure of the Universe”, Technische Universität München, 85748 , Garching, Germany
¹³ Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, 1040 , Vienna, Austria
¹⁴ Hampton University, Hampton, VA , 23668, USA
¹⁵ Jefferson Laboratory, Newport News, VA , 23606, USA
¹⁶ Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1560, USA
¹⁷ Department Fisica Teorica I, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 , Madrid, Spain
¹⁸ PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, Institut für Kernphysik and Helmholtz Institut Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 , Mainz, Germany
¹⁹ Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, 117218, Russia
²⁰ Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141700, Russia
²¹ Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Groningen, 9747 AG , Groningen, The Netherlands
²² Institut de Physique Nucléaire CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 , Orsay, France
²³ Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Wien, 1040 , Vienna, Austria
²⁴ Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter and Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47408, USA
²⁵ Physics Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 94551, USA
²⁶ Physics Department, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
²⁷ Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Finland
²⁸ Department of Physics, University of Virginia, 382 McCormick Rd., P.O. Box 400714, Charlottesville, VA , 22904-4714, USA
²⁹ NIKHEF, Science Park 105, 1098 XG , Amsterdam, The Netherlands
³⁰ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Via E. Fermi 40, 00044 , Frascati, Italy
³¹ Wuppertal University, 42119 , Wuppertal, Germany
³² Eötvös University, 1117 , Budapest, Hungary
³³ Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 , Jülich, Germany
³⁴ Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Bern, Sidlerstraße 5, 3012 , Bern, Switzerland
³⁵ Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-662 , Warsaw, Poland
³⁶ European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
³⁷ Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH , 44242, USA
³⁸ Crete Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, University of Crete, 71003 , Heraklion, Greece
³⁹ Laboratoire APC, Université Paris Diderot, Paris Cedex 13, Sorbonne Paris-Cité , 75205, France
⁴⁰ Theory Group, Physics Department, CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
⁴¹ Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC , Utrecht, The Netherlands
⁴² Moscow Physical Engineering Institute, Moscow, 115409, Russia
⁴³ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
⁴⁴ IFIC, Universitat de València, CSIC, Apt. Correus 22085, 46071 , València, Spain
⁴⁵ Departamento de Fisica Teorica y del Cosmos and CAFPE, Campus Fuentenueva s. n., Universidad de Granada, 18071 , Granada, Spain
⁴⁶ Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
⁴⁷ C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
⁴⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 80126 , Napoli, Italy
⁴⁹ INFN, Sezione di Napoli, 80126 , Napoli, Italy
⁵⁰ Departamento de Fisica de Particulas y IGFAE, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 , Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
⁵¹ Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 , Bochum, Germany
⁵² School of Biomedicine, Far Eastern Federal University, Sukhanova str 8, Vladivostok, 690950, Russia
⁵³ Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen- und Kernphysik, Universität Bonn, 53115 , Bonn, Germany

^* e-mail: nora.brambilla@ph.tum.de

Received: 24 May 2014
Accepted: 5 July 2014
Published online: 21 October 2014

Abstract

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.