Probing QCD at Medium Q^2

Abstract

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is a firmly established part of the Standard Model, yet its long distance properties remain challenging at a conceptual level. In recent years significant experimental and theoretical progress has been made towards a field theoretic understanding of hadrons as QCD bound states, addressing the complex properties of relativistic bound states in a gluon condensate with spontaneously broken chiral symmetry. In this introductory talk I give a personal view of some of the issues involved: Measuring hadron matrix elements, understanding their QCD dynamics and explaining the apparently close relationship between hard and soft processes.