Preface

Abstract

From June 17-19 1998 the small, historic English town of Lewes in Sussex bustled with approximately 110 international scientists attending a conference entitled `Nuclear Structure at the Extremes' in the Town Hall. Although the conference was primarily concerned with current and future developments in the field, the subtext was the 40th anniversary of the introduction by J P Elliott of the SU(3) symmetry, which helped to break down the apparent conflict between the nuclear shell model and the collective model. The papers which follow were presented at that conference, except for the first one, entitled `Recollections'. This was provided at the request of many of the participants who wanted to know more about how SU(3) came to be applied to nuclear physics. The conference was opened by Akito Arima (RIKEN) who gave an overview of the SU(3) model and its development in nuclear physics, and the speakers that followed moved on to a good balance of both experimental and theoretical talks on current topics. Experimental talks included several on techniques, results and prospects for the use of radioactive beams. Other talks included proton scattering from unstable nuclei, magnetic rotation and exotic decays at the proton drip-line. The latest situation on the production of the heaviest elements was also described. Theoretical talks covered the latest Monte Carlo techniques for large-scale shell-model calculations, some very detailed shell-model descriptions of collective phenomena and some formal work on the relation between macroscopic and microscopic models of nuclei. The increasing interest in relativistic descriptions of the nuclear mean-field and its connection with the empirical pseudo-spin symmetry was reflected in several papers. The use in molecular physics of some algebraic techniques developed in nuclear theory was also described. This conference could not have taken place without the dynamism and enthusiasm of the young scientists involved. Every generation or so, it seems that groups of scientists think that their field is coming to a close, and begin to present it in an historical sense. The movers of this conference were determined to remind others that many new vistas in nuclear structure are just opening, and although still in the emerging stages, they are exciting extensions of solid foundation work already carried out by an older generation. Thus, the talks at this conference were chosen so as to attempt to give an evolutionary context, with the emerging topics as the focus within it. One further characteristic of this conference came about from a conscious attempt by the organisers to ensure that any artificial divide between experimental and theoretical papers was discouraged; in all talks it was requested that the physics was the focus rather than specialised techniques. This approach seems to have been quite successful in that almost all participants attended almost all of the talks - a noteworthy achievement. One of the senior scientists who attended offered the following comments afterwards: <BLOCKQUOTE> `I thought you might like to know that I thought the event was a resounding success. It was a most pleasant and profitable occasion. Everyone was very friendly and relaxed and the talks were almost universally excellent ... I was wondering in fact what the secret of the meeting might be, because most meetings do not work nearly as well. Apart from the location, which was quite delightful, I think perhaps the fact that speakers were asked to look back as well as forward, gave all the talks a reason to focus on what people already know and then lead them into new concepts. In any event, in spite of a full programme, it was not at all heavy and it was easy to give one's full attention to the talks almost all the time. I don't recall ever being able to do that to the same extent before.' </BLOCKQUOTE> This conference was supported and sponsored by the University of Brighton. The Institute of Physics contributed five student bursaries. M K Harder and A M Bruce (Editors) Local Organising Committee M K Harder University of Brighton A M Bruce University of Brighton D D Warner CCLRC, Daresbury P Van Isacker GANIL J P Elliott University of Sussex P H Regan University of Surrey W Gelletly University of Surrey W D Hamilton University of Sussex