  The study of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) over the past quarter century has
had relatively little impact on the traditional approach to the low-energy
nuclear many-body problem. Recent developments are changing this situation. New
experimental capabilities and theoretical approaches are opening windows into
the richness of many-body phenomena in QCD. A common theme is the use of
effective field theory (EFT) methods, which exploit the separation of scales in
physical systems. At low energies, effective field theory can explain how
existing phenomenology emerges from QCD and how to refine it systematically.
More generally, the application of EFT methods to many-body problems promises
insight into the analytic structure of observables, the identification of new
expansion parameters, and a consistent organization of many-body corrections,
with reliable error estimates.
