Modern trends in the study of few-nucleon systems

Few-nucleon systems play a very special role in nuclear physics, because it is possible to perform an exact calculation of their structure in terms of nucleons. Thus, these simple systems are a natural testing ground for the theoretical description of nuclear interactions in the nuclear medium. The author gives a brief review of progress made since Faddeev presented four-body equations at the first European few-body conference in 1969. The author shows the necessity for a theoretical framework to describe both long and short range interactions. He states that it is crucial to establish a link between the conventional mesonic description and the prescriptions of QCD. 91 refs.; 11 figs