The possibility that gluonic excitations of hadronic matter or of the QCD vacuum may exist is perhaps one of the most fascinating topics in hadron spectroscopy. Glueballs are predicted by many models; in particular present-day lattice gauge calculations require their existence. All these models agree that the lightest glueball should have scalar quantum numbers and a mass around 1.6 GeV, which corresponds to the mass region where the scalar qq[bar]-mesons are expected. Therefore mixing effects can complicate the search for the glueball. Experiments indeed show an overpopulation of states, for which many different interpretations exist. This reflects the complexity of the situation. New data from various experiments on scalar states give hints toward an interpretation of the scalar states. But, still many questions remain.

Author: Ulrike Thoma

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