This book covers the structure and dynamics of atomic nuclei in terms of nucleons, pions, and quarks, all within a unified treatment of the nuclear response to an electromagnetic probe. The basic formalism is presented to describe the electromagnetic field and its interaction with nuclear matter for both real and virtual photons. Nuclear response is then analyzed in terms of structure functions in the case of inclusive and semi-inclusive inelastic electron scattering. The discussion covers pion production and one- or two-nucleon emission and compares the results with available data. The formalism is also extended to incident polarized electrons, polarized targets and nuclear recoil polarization. It contains a comprehensive description of photonuclear reactions at intermediate energies and a review of experimental data and previous theoretical approaches.

Nuclear physics is presently experiencing a thrust towards fundamental phy sics questions. Low-energy experiments help in testing beyond today's stan dard models of particle physics. The search for finite neutrino masses and neutrino oscillations, for proton decay, rare and forbidden muon and pion de cays, for an electric dipole moment of the neutron denote some of the efforts to test today's theories of grand unification (GUTs, SUSYs, Superstrings, ... ) complementary to the search for new particles and symmetries in high-energy experiments. The close connections between the laws of microphysics, astrophysics and cosmology open further perspectives. This concerns, to mention some of them, properties of exotic nuclei and nuclear matter, and star evolution; the neutrino and the dark matter in the universe; relations between grand unification and evolution of the early universe. The International Symposium on Weak and Electromagnetic Interactions in Nuclei (W.E.LN. 1986)' held in Heidelberg 1-5 July 1986, in conjunction with the 600th anniversary of the University of Heidelberg, brought together experts in the fields of nuclear and particle physics, astrophysics and cosmol ogy.

This advanced textbook presents an extensive and diverse study of low-energy nuclear physics considering the nucleus as a quantum system of strongly interacting constituents. The contents guide students from the basic facts and ideas to more modern topics including important developments over the last 20 years, resulting in a comprehensive collection of major modern-day nuclear models otherwise unavailable in the current literature. The book emphasizes the common features of the nucleus and other many-body mesoscopic systems currently in the center of interest in physics. The authors have also included full problem sets that can be selected by lecturers and adjusted to specific interests for more advanced students, with many chapters containing links to freely available computer code. As a result, readers are equipped for scientific work in mesoscopic physics.