The hierarchical quark mass spectrum and flavor mixing

The observed hierarchy of the quark masses and its interpretation as a result of a specific evolution of a chiral symmetry breakdown is used to derive an associated expansion of the flavor mixing matrix. Requiring that this expansion is reproduced manifestly by the parametrization of the mixing matrix, a specific parametrization is singled out. A strong argument is provided to use this description in the future analysis of the experimental data. (orig.)