A NATO Advanced Studies Institute was held June 12-23, 1978, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a topical Institute in theoretical nuclear physics and had the some what novel feature of focussing not on a single topic but on two closely allied ones: pion-nucleus and heavy-ion physics. These two fields. both dedicated to the investigation of short-wave length properties of nuclei, have many techniques and concepts in cornmon, and essentially become one in the topic of relativistic heavy-ion physics. The purpose of including both in a single Institute was to encourage the practitioners in each of these fields to learn from those in the other; to judge from the liveli ness of the questioning which ensued, the purpose was well-served indeed. Because the Institute was viewed as one which served both educational and research ends, the lecturers took particular pains to develop their subjects in a careful, coherent sequence. The result is a compendium of advanced techniques and current results in these two rapidly-expanding fields of nuclear theory which should serve interested physicists as an ideal introduction to the fields. In addition to the support provided by the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO, substantial financial assistance was provided by the U. S. National Science Foundation and the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin.

Written primarily for researchers and graduate students who are new in this emerging field, this book develops the necessary tools so that readers can follow the latest advances in this subject. Readers are first guided to examine the basic informations on nucleon-nucleon collisions and the use of the nucleus as an arena to study the interaction of one nucleon with another. A good survey of the relation between nucleon-nucleon and nucleus-nucleus collisions provides the proper comparison to study phenomena involving the more exotic quark-gluon plasma. Properties of the quark-gluon plasma and signatures for its detection are discussed to aid future searches and exploration for this exotic matter. Recent experimental findings are summarised.

Theoretical Approaches of Heavy Ion Reaction Mechanisms provides information pertinent to heavy ion reactions and nuclear fission at low energies. This book discusses the features of the time-dependent solution of the Kramer–Chandrasekhar equation. Organized into 27 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the deexcitation process of a highly excited nucleus by means of its decay into two fragments. This text then presents a microscopic description to extract the characteristics features of the collective dynamics of the fission process at low energy. Other chapters consider nuclear fission as a transport process over the fission barrier. This book discusses as well the microscopic foundations of the phenomenological collective models. The final chapter deals with the composition of the baryons and mesons in terms of gluons and quarks. This book is a valuable resource for nuclear and high energy physicists. Experimentalists, theoreticians, and research workers will also find this book useful.

The last few years have seen a resurgence in the applications of group theory to the problems posed by various characteristics of transition metals and lanthanides. In particular with the commercial availability of more sophisticated experimental tech niques; such as Magnetic Circular Dichroism (M.C.D.), Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (E.P.R. or E.S(pin).R.) and Single Crystal Polarised Spectra; experimental data of a much more sophisticated and selective nature than the old stand-by; absorption spectra and magnetic susceptibility; has become available. This new wealth of high quality experimental data thus pre sents challenges of interpretation and organization of the data which the new developments in group theory strive to meet. The wealth and quality of this new data makes the nuances and differences implicit in the traditional strong and weak field approach testable. Thus, these approaches can be tested more fully and new formalisms can be meaningfully tested, by comparison to experiment. Hence the characteristic implicit in the strong and weak field approaches are revealed by studies into their formal structures as exemplified by Drs. E. Konig, S. Kremer, and S. Piepho. Similarly, works proceed apace on the knotty problem of correlation and gen eralization of these properties through approaches such as those of Drs. P. H. Butler, J. C. Donini and M. Kibler. On a similar vein the deep structure of group representation and correlations of representation of various groups is explored by the afore mentioned and by Drs. Fritzer, Patera and Sharp.