A new high-energy scale?

Throughout the study of microscopic physics, new frontiers are opened whenever a new basic energy scale is reached. We have the case of atomic and molecular physics with the electron-volt energy scale, nuclear physics with the MeV energy scale and the present stronginteraction physics with the GeV energy scale. In each case, at the energy scale of interest, we encounter a vastly rich structure of multiple energy levels and detailed dynamics; yet, when viewed against a much larger energy scale, this superstructure simply dissolves into the continuum.