Recent Progress in QCD Condensate Evaluations and Sum Rules

We review the recent status of the QCD sum rule approach to study the properties of hadrons in vacuum and in hot or dense matter. Special focus is laid on the progress made in the evaluation of the QCD condensates, which are the input of all QCD sum rule calculations, and for which much new information has become available through high precision lattice QCD calculations, chiral perturbation theory and experimental measurements. Furthermore, we critically examine common analysis methods for QCD sum rules and contrast them with potential alternative strategies. The status of QCD sum rule studies investigating the modification of hadrons at finite density as well as recent derivations of exact sum rules applicable to finite temperature spectral functions, are also reviewed.