RELATING THE NUMBER OF QUARK LEPTON FAMILIES TO THE PHASE-STRUCTURE OF A GAUGE-THEORY

Within a simple model of composite quarks and leptons we present arguments in favour of having a special phase structure for three generations. In fact only in this case one may obtain massless quarks and leptons together with a mass pp in the other channels. The rigorous formulation of the model and a strategy for a simplified calculation of the critical number of massless fermions are described. Other physical features of the model testable at forthcoming accelerators are pointed out.