This concise research monograph introduces and reviews the concept of chiral soliton models for baryons. In these models, baryons emerge as (topological) defects of the chiral field. The many applications shed light on a number of bayron properties, ranging from static properties via nuclear resonances to even heavy ion collisions. This volume also features a number of appendices to help nonspecialist readers to follow in more detail some of the calculations in the main text.

This concise research monograph introduces and reviews the concept of chiral soliton models for baryons. In these models, baryons emerge as (topological) defects of the chiral field. The many applications shed light on a number of bayron properties, ranging from static properties via nucleon resonances and deep inelastic scattering to even heavy ion collisions. As far as possible, the theoretical investigations are confronted with experiment. Conceived to bridge the gap between advanced graduate textbooks and the research literature, this volume also features a number of appendices to help nonspecialist readers to follow in more detail some of the calculations in the main text.

This theses reports on an experimental search for an exotic hadron, Θ+(1540) pentaquark, which is a genuine exotic hadron with a five-quark system of uuddsbar. The results of this book support that the existence of Θ+ was strongly constrained. The Θ+ pentaquark was searched for via the π- p → K- X reaction using a beam momentum of 2.01 GeV/c at the J-PARC hadron experimental facility, taking advantage of high-statistics and high-resolution compared with previous experiments, some of which claimed the evidence of Θ+. In order to realize a good missing-mass resolution of 2 MeV, the beam spectrometer and superconducting kaon spectrometer were constructed. No clear peak was observed in the missing mass spectrum of the π- p → K- X reaction, and the upper limit of the production cross section was found to be less than 0.28 μb/sr at the 90% confidence level in a mass region of 1500–1560 MeV/c2. This upper limit is an order of magnitude smaller than that of the previous KEK experiment. Compared with a theoretical calculation using the effective Lagrangian approach, the decay width of Θ+ was evaluated. The upper limits on the decay width were estimated to be 0.36 and 1.9 MeV for the Θ+ spin-parity of 1/2+ and 1/2-, respectively. These are quite small for a width of ordinary hadron resonances, and the existence of Θ+ was strongly constrained and is doubtful.

The revival of the Skyrme model for baryons has led to a large variety of investigations ranging from the foundations of effective meson theories and chiral soliton models, over numerous extensions of Skyrme's original concept, to many impressive results in applications to the meson-baryon system. Each author has made essential contributions to the field of his expertise, and the lectures collected in this proceedings review and asses the present status of these achievements and serve as guiding lines for future developments.

This book contains articles on the latest research in QCD from some of the leading experts in the field. These are based on talks presented at the Continuous Advances in QCD 2004 workshop held at the William I Fine Theoretical Physics Institute.The book will be a useful reference source for graduate students and researchers in high energy physics.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: ? Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings? (ISTP? / ISI Proceedings)? Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)? CC Proceedings ? Engineering & Physical Sciences

This book contains articles on the latest research in QCD from some of the leading experts in the field. These are based on talks presented at the Continuous Advances in QCD 2004 workshop held at the William I Fine Theoretical Physics Institute.The book will be a useful reference source for graduate students and researchers in high energy physics.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings® (ISTP® / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• CC Proceedings — Engineering & Physical Sciences

The large Nc limit plays a fundamental role in the study of non-abelian gauge theories such as quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Since its discovery in 1974 by 't Hooft, the 1/Nc expansion has provided crucial insights into the non-perturbative aspects of gauge theories. The expansion implemented at the effective theory level is one of the fundamental tools currently in use in hadronic physics; there are important effects and relations that follow from the 1/Nc expansion, which held remarkably well in the real world with Nc= 3. The 1/Ncexpansion also plays a central role in the recently discovered connections between non-Abelian gauge and string theories, promising new ways to analyze the non-perturbative domain of gauge theories.This volume contains contributions from leading theorists and covers the recent developments in the 1/Nc expansion in QCD. The topics addressed include confinement, AdS/CFT correspondence and the string-QCD connection, topology in large Nc, lattice QCD, and a variety of applications to mesons and baryons.