The Theory of Nuclear Forces: Is the Never-Ending Story Coming to an End?

Abstract

I review the recent progress in our understanding of nuclear forces in terms of an effective field theory (EFT) for low-energy QCD and put this progress into historical perspective. This is followed by an assessment of the current status of EFT based nuclear potentials. In concluding, I will summarize some unresolved issues.

Comments: 7 pages, 2 figures; plenary talk at 18th International Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (FB18), Santos, SP, Brazil, August 2006