Energy Levels of Light Nuclei

Abstract

The study of the energy levels of nuclei is essentially concerned with the location of the various stationary and quasi-stationary states characteristic of nuclear systems and the determination of the properties of these states. One pictures the stationary energy levels as representing arrangements of the nuclear constituents which are particularly preferred over other possible arrangements and which may exist for periods of time many orders of magnitude longer than the time required for a nucleon to traverse the effective dimensions of the nucleus. There is cause for hope that, by examining the distribution in excitation energy of such preferred arrangements and by studying their modes of formation and decay, one may eventually achieve an understanding of how nuclei are constructed and how the various particles within the nucleus interact. Clearly the matter is not simple: if it were not for the fact that both experiment and theory have been beset with perplexing difficulties, there would be little occasion for writing in 1951 a progress report on an art which had its inception in 1919.