Annotation The proceedings of the July 1997 conference reflect the interdisciplinary nature of cluster science. Topics of the 63 papers include shell and supershell structure; optical response and related subjects; fission and evaporation; collisions and reactions; phase transition of structure and reaction; cluster impact on solids at low energies (2 parts: cluster activity on surface and material science); radio activity technology for cluster study; and cluster impact on solid surfaces at high energies. Introductory and summary talks are also included. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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.

In these days of specialization it is important to bring together physicists working in diverse areas to exchange and share their ideas and excitement. This leads to cross-fertilization of ideas, and it enriches, as in biological systems, a specialized field with new strength, development and direction derived from another area. Although this might be an uncommon thing, it is an important step in our under standing of the physical world around us, which is, after aIl, the main purpose of physics. The seed for this conference was really sowed when one of us (MB) and Mr. Manngärd showed some a-scattering data at backward angles to FBM one summer about four years ago. That occasion led to a long research collaboration between the Abo Akademi physicists and other scientists in several countries. The actual idea to explore the possibility of holding a conference, however, crystallized in the summer of 1989 during a visit of FBM to Abo Akademi. The final decision to organize a conference was made after MB visited Profes sor Ben Mottelson in Copenhagen and Professor Anagnostatos in Athens. At this point it was recognized that there are similarities as weIl as differences between clustering phenomena in nuclei and systems consisting of atoms. It was therefore conjectured that it could be very stimulating to bring together these groups to exchange their ideas and to leam from each other's fields. A conference along these lines, we hoped, would contribute to an increased mutual understanding.

Following the pioneering discovery of alpha clustering and of molecular resonances, the field of nuclear clustering is presently one of the domains of heavy-ion nuclear physics facing both the greatest challenges and opportunities. After many summer schools and workshops, in particular over the last decade, the community of nuclear molecular physics decided to team up in producing a comprehensive collection of lectures and tutorial reviews covering the field. This first volume, gathering seven extensive lectures, covers the follow topics: * Cluster Radioactivity * Cluster States and Mean Field Theories * Alpha Clustering and Alpha Condensates * Clustering in Neutron-rich Nuclei * Di-neutron Clustering * Collective Clusterization in Nuclei * Giant Nuclear Molecules By promoting new ideas and developments while retaining a pedagogical nature of presentation throughout, these lectures will both serve as a reference and as advanced teaching material for future courses and schools in the fields of nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.

The Second International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Clusters '93 was orga nized in a joint effort by the 'Demokritos' National Center for Scientific Research, G. S. Anagnostatos (representing the atomic physics) and the Hahn-Meitner-Institut, W. von Oertzen (representing the nuclear physics). The subject of clusters - small aggregates of particles - is a topic of primary interest in both atomic and nuclear physics, and also in other fields like in the case of quark-structure of baryons and in cosmology. The interplay between atomic and nuclear physics is a particularly fascinating one because many concepts are common to both fields (quantal effects, shells, geometric structures, collective modes, fission etc. ) This conference was the second after the first one organized by Professor M. Brenner in Abo (Finland) in 1991. The general atmosphere of a joint forum for atomic and nuclear physicists was very fruitful and thus the decision to have a sequence of such meetings has been taken. A third one is planned in St. Petersburg (Russia) with Professor K. Gridnev (St. Petersburg) and Mme. Professor C. Bnkhignac (Orsay) as Chairpersons. The conference site, Fin\. on Santorini island (Greece), was a wonderful choice for a conference. It is small, which helps to keep people concentrated in a smaller community, it has a perfect convention center, the P. Nomikos Conference Center, and a very beautiful landscape formed by a large volcanic crater.

A timely presentation of new results, challenges, and opportunities in the quickly developing field of nuclear cluster physics, presented by an international group of eminent theoretical and experimental scientists active in the field. Their work reveals how correlations of nucleons can appear spontaneously, propagate, and survive in nuclear matter at both low and high densities. Characteristic nuclear substructures, beyond those predicted by mean-field or collective scenarios, appear on microscopic and cosmic length scales. They can influence the dynamics of fusion of light nuclei and the decay of heavy, fissioning nuclei or of systems produced transiently in heavy-ion reactions. A must-read for young scientists entering the field and a valuable resource for more seasoned nuclear researchers!

This unique volume reviews more than fifty years of theoretical and experimental developments of the concept that properties of atomic nuclei up to a great extent are defined by the pair correlations of nuclear constituents - protons and neutrons. Such correlations in condensed matter are responsible for quantum phenomena on a macroscopic level - superfluidity and superconductivity. After introducing Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity of metals, it became clear that atomic nuclei have properties of superfluid drops, and practically all features of nuclei strongly depend on the pair correlations. Presenting a comprehensive overview of the progress of nuclear science, the contributions from leading physicists around the world, cover the whole spectrum of studies in nuclear physics and physics of other small systems. With the most updated information written in an accessible way, the volume will serve as an irreplaceable source of references covering many years of development and insight into several new problems at the frontiers of science. It will be useful not only for physicists working in nuclear and condensed matter physics, astrophysicists, chemists and historians of science, but will also help students understand the current status and perspectives for the future.

Boltzmann''s formula S = In[ W (E) ] defines the microcanonical ensemble. The usual textbooks on statistical mechanics start with the microensemble but rather quickly switch to the canonical ensemble introduced by Gibbs. This has the main advantage of easier analytical calculations, but there is a price to pay OCo for example, phase transitions can only be defined in the thermodynamic limit of infinite system size. The question how phase transitions show up from systems with, say, 100 particles with an increasing number towards the bulk can only be answered when one finds a way to define and classify phase transitions in small systems. This is all possible within Boltzmann''s original definition of the microcanonical ensemble. Starting from Boltzmann''s formula, the book formulates the microcanonical thermodynamics entirely within the frame of mechanics. This way the thermodynamic limit is avoided and the formalism applies to small as well to other nonextensive systems like gravitational ones. Phase transitions of first order, continuous transitions, critical lines and multicritical points can be unambiguously defined by the curvature of the entropy S(E, N) . Special attention is given to the fragmentation of nuclei and atomic clusters as a peculiar phase transition of small systems controlled, among others, by angular momentum. The dependence of the liquid-gas transition of small atomic clusters under prescribed pressure is treated. Thus the analogue to the bulk transition can be studied. The book also describes the microcanonical statistics of the collapse of a self-gravitating system under large angular momentum. Contents: The Mechanical Basis of Thermodynamics; Micro-Canonical Thermodynamics of Phase Transitions Studied in the Potts Model; Liquid-Gas Transition and Surface Tension Under Constant Pressure; Statistical Fragmentation Under Repulsive Forces of Long Range; The Collapse Transition in Self-Gravitating Systems First Model-Studies; Appendices: On the Historical Development of Statistical Nuclear Multifragmentation Models; The Micro-Canonical Ensemble of Na-Clusters; Some General Technical Aspects of Micro-Canonical Monte Carlo Simulation on a Lattice. Readership: Advanced level graduate students, lecturers and researchers in statistical and condensed matter physics."

This title covers the state of the art in this field both theoretically and experimentally. With contributions from leading researchers including several Nobel laureates, it represents a long-lasting source of reference on all aspects of fundamental research into or using atomic and molecular beams.