Lowest-Lying Scalar Mesons and a Possible Probe of Their Quark Substructure

In this talk, an overview of the status of the light scalar mesons in the context of the non linear chiral Lagrangian of references [1-3] is presented. The evidence for the existence of a scalar nonet below 1 GeV is reviewed, and it is shown that by introducing a scalar nonet an indirect way of probing the quark substructure of these scalars through the scalar mixing angle can be obtained. It is then reviewed that consistency of this non-linear chiral Lagrangian framework with the experimental data on pi pi and pi K scattering, as well as the decay eta' to eta pi pi, results in a range for the mixing angle which indicates that the quark substructure of these light scalars are closer to a four quark picture.