Hadrons in vacuum, nuclei and stars

Hadrons are the strongly interacting elementary particles. The theory of quarks and gluons, Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD), describes, at least in principle, their properties. However, for low momentum transfers perturbative methods are inadequate to study hadrons and their interactions. Therefore the planned investigations include Monte-Carlo calculations within lattice QCD, non-perturbative Green`s function methods and effective field theory (chiral perturbation theory). Effective models reflecting QCD symmetries and low-energy degrees of freedom are also employed to study hadronic interactions. Combining these methods new techniques will be developped. In collaboration with the international partners potential implications for nuclear and astrophysics will be studied. The implementation of corresponding experiments as well as the analysis of experimental data at the partner universities will be supported.