Low-energy meson physics in the quark model of superconducting type

Studies devoted to the construction of phenomenological Lagrangians for the strong and electromagnetic interactions of mesons at low energies on the basis of a model with a four-quark interaction of superconducting type are reviewed. The scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, and two axial-vector meson nonets are considered. It is shown that because of spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry the light current quarks become heavier constituent quarks. The strong and radiative decays of the five meson nonets, the ..pi pi.. and ..pi..K scattering lengths, and the electromagnetic radii and polarizabilities of the pions and kaons are described.