The Highly Specialized Seminar on "Symmetries in Nuclear Structure", held in Erice, Italy, in March 2003, celebrated the career and the remarkable achievements of Francesco Iachello, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Since the development of the interacting boson model in the early 1970s, the ideas of Iachello have provided a variety of frameworks for understanding collective behaviour in nuclear structure, founded on the concepts of dynamical symmetries and spectrum-generating algebras. The original ideas, which were developed for the description of atomic nuclei, have now been successfully extended to cover spectroscopic behaviour in other fields, such as molecular or hadronic spectra. More recently, the suggestion by Iachello of critical point symmetries to treat nuclei in shape/phase transitional regions has opened an exciting new front for both theoreticians and experimentalists.The talks presented at the meeting covered many of the most active forefront areas of nuclear structure as well as other fields where ideas of symmetries are being explored. Topics in nuclear structure included extensive discussions on dynamical symmetries, critical point symmetries, phase transitions, statistical properties of nuclei, supersymmetry, mixed symmetry states, shears bands, pairing and clustering in nuclei, shape coexistence, exotic nuclei, dipole modes, and astrophysics, among others. In addition, important sessions focused on talks by European laboratory directors (or their representatives) outlining prospects for nuclear structure, and the application of symmetry ideas to molecular phenomena. Finally, a special lecture by Nobel laureate Alex Mueller, on s and d wave symmetry in superconductors, presented a unique insight into an allied field.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:* Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings� (ISTP� / ISI Proceedings)* Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)* CC Proceedings -- Engineering & Physical Sciences

The 1982 summer school on nuclear physics, organized by the Nuclear Physics Division of the Netherlands' Physical Society, was the fifth in a series that started in 1963. The number of students attending has always been about one hundred, coming from about thirty countries. The theme of this year's school was symmetry in nuclear physics. This book covers the material presented by the enthusi astic speakers, who were invited to lecture on this subject. We think they have succeeded in presenting us with clear and thorough introductory talks at graduate or higher level. The time schedule of the school and the location allowed the participants to make many informal contacts during many social activities, ranging from billiards to surf board sailing. We hope and expect that the combination of a relaxed atmosphere during part of the time and hard work during most of the time, has furthered the interest in, and understanding of, nuclear physics. The organization of the summer school was made possible by substantial support from the Scientific Affairs Division of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Netherlands' Ministry of Education and Science, the Foundation Physica and the Nether lands' Physical Society.

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

The revised edition of this established work presents an extended overview of recent applications of symmetry to the description of atomic nuclei, including a pedagogical introduction to symmetry concepts using simple examples. Following a historical overview of the applications of symmetry in nuclear physics, attention turns to more recent progress in the field. Special emphasis is placed on the introduction of neutron-proton and boson-fermion degrees of freedom. Their combination leads to a supersymmetric description of pairs and quartets of nuclei. Expanded and updated throughout, the book now features separate chapters on the nuclear shell model and the interacting boson model, the former including discussion of recent results on seniority in a single-j shell. Both theoretical aspects and experimental signatures of dynamical (super)symmetries are carefully discussed. This book focuses on nuclear structure physics, but its broad scope makes it suitable for final-year or post-graduate students and researchers interested in understanding the power and beauty of symmetry methods in physics. Review of the 1st Edition: "The subject of this book, symmetries in physical systems, with particular focus on atomic nuclei, is of the utmost importance in modern physical science. In contrast to most treatments, frequently characterized by fearsome formalism, this book leads the reader step-by-step, in an easily understandable way, through this fascinating field...this book is remarkably accessible to both theorists and experimentalists. Indeed, I view it as essential reading for experimental nuclear structure physicists. This is one of the finest volumes on this subject I have ever encountered." Prof. R.F. Casten, Yale University

This book shows the usefulness of the nucleus as a laboratory for learning about basic symmetries and fundamental interactions. It is aimed at advanced graduate students and beginning researchers, but should be useful to advanced researchers as well. Nuclear and particle physicists will find it particularly useful.

This book is the result of a graduate-level "special topics" course I gave at the University of Rochester in 1970. The purpose of the course was to discuss as far as possible all known symmetries in nuclei, with special emphasis on dynamical symmetries. Since there was no comprehensive account of this subject in the literature, I was encouraged to write a review based on my lecture notes. The end result is the present volume. Like the course, the book is intended mainly for graduate students and research workers in nuclear physics. The only prior knowledge required to follow the book is graduate-level quantum mechanics and nuclear physics and hence I believe that it can be useful to both experimental and theoretical nuclear physicists. In addition, the book should prepare a student to read the latest literature on the subject and also train him to do group theoretic work in nuclear physics. The organization of the material in the book is described in Chapter 1.