These proceedings comprise the contents of a major international conference on Perspectives of the Interacting Boson Model. Occasioned by the 20th Anniversary of this model, and attended by approx. 130 scientists from 29 countries, the topics focused on current and future research, which relates to the IBM. This model has now become one of the standard approaches to nuclear structure and has helped usher in a renaissance in that field and a new, unified perspective that focuses on dynamical symmetries and the key role of the valence nucleons. The algebraic approach fostered by the model is being extended to other fields, including nuclear reactions, molecular physics and baryon structure.

The beauty of physics lies in its coherence in terms of a few fundamental concepts and principles. Even physicists have occasion to marvel at the overarching reach of basic principles and their ability to account for features stretching from the microscopic sub-atomic world to the cosmological expanses of the Universe. While mathematics is its natural language, physics is mostly about patterns, connections, and relations between objects and phenomena, and it is this aspect that is emphasized in this book. Since science tries to connect phenomena that at first sight appear widely different, while boiling them down to a small set of essential principles and laws, metaphor and analogy pervade our subject. Consider the pendulum, its swing from one extreme to the other often invoked in social or economic contexts. In molecular vibrations, such as in the CO2 molecule, the quantum motions of electrons and nuclei are metaphorically the pendulums. In electromagnetic radiation, including the visible light we observe, there are not even any concrete material particles, only electric and magnetic fields executing simple harmonic motion. But, to a physicist, they are all "just a pendulum". The selection of topics reflects the author's own four-decade career in research physics and his resultant perspective on the subject. While aimed primarily at physicists, including junior students, this book also addresses other readers who are willing to think with symbols and simple algebra in understanding the physical world around us. Each chapter, on themes such as dimensions, transformations, symmetries, or maps, begins with simple examples accessible to all while connecting them later to more sophisticated realizations in more advanced topics of physics.

"This seminar focuses on recent achievements and new goals of nuclear structure in both experiment and theory. Several topics at the forefront of current research in this field are covered by major experts. The main themes are: exotic nuclei; the present role and perspectives of the shell model; modes of excitation in deformed and superdeformed nuclei; and nuclear astrophysics."--Publisher's website.

This textbook on nuclear structure takes a unique approach to the topic, explaining nuclear structure by building on a few elementary physical ideas. Intricate topics such as shell model residual interactions, the Nilsson model, and the RPA analysis of collective vibrations are explained in a simple, intuitive way so that predictions can usually be made without calculations, essentially by inspection. Frequent data comparison shows the relevance of theoretical approaches. New to this edition are chapters on exotic nuclei and radioactive beams,and correlations of collective observables. Completely new discussions are given on isopin, the shell model, nature of collective vibrations, multi- phonon states, superdeformation, bandmixing, the geometric collective model, the fermei gas model, basic properties of simple nuclear potentials, the deuteron, etc.

The International Conference "Bologna 2000: Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century" was devoted to a discipline which has seen a strong revival of research activities in the last decade. New experimental results and theoretical developments in nuclear physics will certainly make important contributions to our knowledge and understanding of Nature's fundamental building blocks. The interest aroused by the Conference among the scientific community was clearly reflected in the large number of participants. These represented the most important nuclear physics laboratories in the world. The Conference covered five major topics of modern nuclear physics: nuclear structure, nucleus-nucleus collisions, hadron dynamics, nuclear astrophysics, and transdisciplinary and peaceful applications of nuclear science. It reviewed recent progress in the field and provided a forum for the discussion of current and future research projects.

The Conference “Bologna 2000: Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century” was devoted to a discipline which has seen a strong revival of research activities in the last decade. New experimental results and theoretical developments in nuclear physics will certainly make important contributions to our knowledge and understanding of Nature's fundamental building blocks.The interest aroused by the Conference among the scientific community was clearly reflected in the large number of participants. These represented the most important nuclear physics laboratories in the world.The Conference covered five major topics of modern nuclear physics: nuclear structure, nucleus-nucleus collisions, hadron dynamics, nuclear astrophysics, and transdisciplinary and peaceful applications of nuclear science. It reviewed recent progress in the field and provided a forum for the discussion of current and future research projects.

These proceedings contain selected topics covering various fields of collective motion and nuclear dynamics, ranging from low to high energies, from nuclear structure to reaction mechanisms, from regular stable to chaotic systems, and from fragmentation to fusion. Several ways of investigating the nuclear systems are presented: electron scattering radioactive beams, fragmenting projectiles, beta and double beta decays, and cluster emission. Their behaviour, under some extreme situations such as superdeformation, high spin states, high temperature, and relativisitic energy, is described within various theoretical formalisms.