Introduction to skewed parton distributions
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		  Andreas Schaefer
               Universitaet Regensburg


Abstract:
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Over the years many aspects of hadron physics have been clarified to a 
more or less satisfactory level. These are e.g. Twist-2 parton 
distributions, hard formfactors, fragmentation functions, diffractive 
reactions, transition matrix elements etc. Within the framework of
various specific models it is possible to connect such different 
observables, however, a comprehensive formal framework allowing to 
do so was lacking so far. 
Since a few years a unifying description based on so called 'Skewed Parton
Distributions' is developped which promisses to achieve this goal. 
The present status of knowledge, including both the hopes and the unsettled
problems is reviewed. In the end much improved experimental data (as it 
could be obtained by some kind of high-luminosity HERMES-type experiment) 
will probably be needed to judge the full potential of this approach.