The book is a collection of papers from the Proceedings of the 5th Italy-Japan Symposium 'Recent Achievements and Perspectives in Nuclear Physics', held in Naples as part of the framework of the INFN-RIKEN Research Collaboration Program. The meeting was devoted to recent achievements and new challenges in the different fields of nuclear physics, with the aim to promote new collaborations between the two communities and thereby enhance the development of nuclear physics in the two countries. Particularly interesting are the topics dedicated to radioactive beams and innovative instrumentation: the prospects for future accelerators and experimental setups as well as novel future research directions. These projects are of key importance for the future of heavy ion nuclear physics.

This book provides an overview of the current research and future prospects in a variety of important areas in nuclear physics by leaders in their respective areas. Advances in both theory and experiments are covered. The topics included new insights into the fission process and the use of fission in the characterization of nuclear fuel waste. High spin spectroscopy studies of both proton and neutron rich nuclei are described. New and emerging areas covered include relativistic heavy ion physics at RHIC as it turns on in 1999, to new opportunities with radioactive ion beams at several laboratories, to prospects for new neutrino studies with the high intensity 1GeV proton beam from the Spallation Neutron source when it is completed in 2005. A major part of this book includes current and future research with stable and radioactive ion beams at the Holifield RIB facility and the performance and first results with the new generation recoil mass spectrometer at Holifield.

The principal goals of the study were to articulate the scientific rationale and objectives of the field and then to take a long-term strategic view of U.S. nuclear science in the global context for setting future directions for the field. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter provides a long-term assessment of an outlook for nuclear physics. The first phase of the report articulates the scientific rationale and objectives of the field, while the second phase provides a global context for the field and its long-term priorities and proposes a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond. In the second phase of the study, also developing a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond, the committee carefully considered the balance between universities and government facilities in terms of research and workforce development and the role of international collaborations in leveraging future investments. Nuclear physics today is a diverse field, encompassing research that spans dimensions from a tiny fraction of the volume of the individual particles (neutrons and protons) in the atomic nucleus to the enormous scales of astrophysical objects in the cosmos. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter explains the research objectives, which include the desire not only to better understand the nature of matter interacting at the nuclear level, but also to describe the state of the universe that existed at the big bang. This report explains how the universe can now be studied in the most advanced colliding-beam accelerators, where strong forces are the dominant interactions, as well as the nature of neutrinos.

"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 volume contains the lectures of invited speakers on the following topics: Collective excitations at zero and finite temperature; Algebraic and geometric symmetric nuclear models; Fundamental symmetries in nuclear physics; Fast rotating nuclei; Nuclei far from stability; Nuclear multifragmentation; Nuclear astrophysics; Subnucleonic degrees of freedom; Relativistic effects in nuclear physics; Quark-gluon plasma physics; Order and chaos in nuclear physics; Nuclear physics and atomic aggregates; Applied nuclear physics.

This volume is devoted to recent achievements and new challenges in the field of nuclear structure. Both experimental and theoretical issues in the forefront of current research on the subject are covered by leading physicists.

- The first book covering a broad range of physical and chemical problems of atomic cluster physics in the context of physics of atomic and molecular collisions bull; Contains contributions from leading experts in the field bull; Considers both free and supported cluster systems bull; Provides both a general introduction to the field and describes its very recent developments -- ideal for graduate and post-graduate students new to the area as well as specialists in atomic cluster physics bull; Useful for comprehensive lecture courses in quantum mechanics, condensed matter physics and other courses in which complex finite systems like atoic clusters are relevant

Unstable particles such as mesons and muons are now used in various research domains of physics, chemistry, engineering, and life sciences. This book is aimed at summarizing the present exploratory activities and giving future perspectives from a very broad scope. It contains 27 contributions in a wide range of subjects, such as muSR studies of superconductivities, magnetism, muon beam and muSR methodology, theoretical accounts of muon hyperfine interactions, muon catalyzed fusion processes, metastable exotic atoms, medical diagnostics, strangeness nuclear physics, mesons in nuclei, meson-related nuclear reactions and structure, and exotic decays of mesons.

The oceans cover 70% of the terrestrial surface, and exert a pervasive influence on the Earth's environment but their nature is poorly recognized. Knowing the ocean's role deeply and understanding the complex, physical, biological, chemical and geological systems operating within it represent a major challenge to scientists today. Seafloor observatories offer scientists new opportunites to study multiple, interrelated natural phenomena over time scales ranging from seconds to decades, from episodic to global and long-term processes. Seafloor Observatories poses the important and apparently simple question, "How can continuous and reliable monitoring at the seafloor by means of Seafloor Observatories extend exploration and improve knowledge of our planet?" The book leads the reader through: the present scientific challenges to be addressed with seafloor observatories the technical solutions for their architecture an excursus on worldwide ongoing projects and programmes some relevant scientific multidisciplinary results and a presentation of new and interesting long-term perspectives for the coming years. Current results will yield significant improvements and exert a strong impact not only on our present knowledge of our planet but also on human evolution.

"The proceedings of the conference include recent results of experimental and theoretical research on the following topics: reaction dynamics, fusion-fission phenomena, neutron physics, deformed shells, nuclear spectroscopy, and exotic nuclei."--Publisher's website