Nuclear Structure from a Simple Perspective

This textbook aims at a simple, intuitive approach to the resurgent field of nuclear structure physics. The approach is based on physics ideas and themes that allow a systematic development of the subject with a minimum of formulas and with the idea that most results of nuclear models can be obtained or motivated without detailed calculations.

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The present textbook on nuclear structure takes a unique and complementary approach compared to existing texts on the topic. Avoiding complicated calculations and complex mathematical formalism, it explains nuclear structure by building on a few elementary physical ideas. Even such apparently intricate topics as shell model residual interactions, the Nilsson model, and the RPA analysis of collective vibrations are explained in a simple, intuitive way so that predictions can usually be made without calculations, essentially by inspection. Frequent comparison with data allows the relevance of theoretical approaches to be immediately evident. This edition includes new chapters on exotic nuclei and radioactive beams, and on correlations of collective observables. Completely new discussions are given of isospin, the shell model, nature of collective vibrations, multi-phonon states, superdeformation, bandmixing, geometric collective model, fermi gas model, basic properties of simple nuclear potentials, the deuteron, etc. With the amount of new material this new edition is essentially a new book.