Recent progress on light scalars: from confusion to precision using dispersion theory

Abstract

In this talk I briefly review the recent developments on light scalar meson spectroscopy, paying particular attention to the causes of major revision of the $\sigma$ or $f_0(500)$ meson in the Review of Particle Phsycis. This resonance, despite playing a central role in the nucleon-nucleon attraction as well as the QCD chiral symmetry breaking, has suffered a longstanding controversy which has been acknowledged to be finally settled. The combination of new and precise data together with rigorous dispersive approaches has turned the old confusing situation about the properties of these mesons, and even thir existence in some cases, into a field which now aims at precision studies.