Pseudoscalar Mesons and Emergent Mass

Abstract: Despite its role in the continuing evolution of the Universe, only a small fraction of the mass of visible material can be attributed to the Higgs boson alone. The overwhelmingly dominant share may/should arise from the strong interactions that act in the heart of nuclear matter; namely, those described by quantum chromodynamics. This contribution describes how studying and explaining the attributes of pseudoscalar mesons can open an insightful window onto understanding the origin of mass in the Standard Model and how these insights inform our knowledge of hadron structure. The survey ranges over distribution amplitudes and functions, electromagnetic and gravitational form factors, light-front wave functions, and generalized parton distributions. Advances made using continuum Schwinger function methods and their relevance for experimental efforts are highlighted.