THE DILATED CHIRAL QUARK-MODEL

It is argued that constituent quarks live in an effective theory that possesses an approximate conformal invariance. An effective lagrangian is constructed which in the large-N(c) approximation incorporates Regge asymptotic constraints. The resulting picture explains why linear-sigma models provide successful constituent quark descriptions, both at zero and finite temperature. Our analysis suggests an interesting relation between non-linearly realized conformal invariance and the completion of chiral multiplets in the broken symmetry phase.