Quantum flavordynamics: a status report

The problems posed and the challenges offered by QFD, at this time, are analyzed and discussed. A convenient starting point is afforded by a comparison of the different circumstances of QFD and QCD. Some features of the conventional methodology of QFD, which may be deemed to be questionable, are underlined. The prospects of the standard model are examined in the light of recent experiments, and some theoretical deficiencies of the model are noted. Following a brief comment about the status of some recently proposed models, it is suggested that one search for new physical principles which may be governing the structure of weak interactions in a hitherto unperceived way. Manifest left-right symmetry and time-reversal invariance, realized as symmetries of the Nambu-Goldstone type, are mentioned as possible examples of such principles; additional motiviation for these symmetries emerges in a discussion of recent work on the problem of natural suppression of strong T-violation. The report concludes with a brief appraisal of the present state of QFD