Quarks, mesons and (exact) flow equations

Abstract

Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking is described within the linear sigma model of QCD coupled to quarks. The main technical tool used for this intrinsically non--perturbative problem is an exact renormalization group equation for the quantum effective action. It is demonstrated that realistic values for phenomenological quantities like the pion decay constant, constituent quark masses or the chiral condensate are obtainable.

Talk at the Int. School of Physics, ``Enrico Fermi'', Varenna, July 1995; 16 pages, two postscript figures