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The series of volumes, Contemporary Concepts in Physics, is addressed to the professional physicist and to the serious graduate student of physics. The subject of many-body systems constitutes a central chapter in the study of quantum mechanics, with applications ranging from elementary particle and condensed matter physics to the behaviour of compact stellar objects. Quantal size effects is one of the most fascinating facets of many-body physics; this is testified to by the developments taking place in the study of metallic clusters, fullerenes, nanophase materials, and atomic nuclei. This book is divided into two main parts: the study of giant resonances based on the atomic nucleus ground state (zero temperature), and the study of the y-decay of giant resonances from compound (finite temperature) nuclei.
Giant resonances are collective excitations of the atomic nucleus, a typical quantum many-body system. The study of these fundamental modes has in many respects contributed to our understanding of the bulk behavior of the nucleus and of the dynamics of non-equilibrium excitations. Although the phenomenon of giant resonances has been known for more than 50 years, a large amount of information has been obtained in the last 10 years. This book gives an up-to-date, comprehensive account of our present knowledge of giant resonances. It presents the experimental facts and the techniques used to obtain that information, describes how these facts fit into theoretical concepts and how this allows to determine various nuclear properties which are otherwise difficult to obtain. Included as an introduction is an overview of the main facts, a short history of how the field has developed in the course of time, and a discussion of future perspectives.
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Appendix A: Mean field theory