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NUCLEAR METHODS AND THE NUCLEAR EQUATION OF STATE
edited by Marcello Baldo (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy)
Since 1989, Professor Marcello Baldo has been Director of Research at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Catania, Italy. He has collaborated with various international institutions, including the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, ISN in Grenoble, Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, Academia Sinica in Shanghai and the University of Liège. Presently a consultant of IPNO in Orsay, his scientific interests lie in the microscopic theory of molecules, solid state systems and nuclear systems. A large part of his recent work is devoted to the many-body theory of nuclear matter and the physics of neutron stars, as well as some aspects of heavy-ion collisons.
The theoretical study of the nuclear equation of state (EOS) is a field of research which deals with most of the fundamental problems of nuclear physics. This book gives an overview of the present status of the microscopic theory of the nuclear EOS. Its aim is essentially twofold: first, to serve as a textbook for students entering the field, by covering the different subjects as exhaustively and didactically as possible; second, to be a reference book for all researchers active in the theory of nuclear matter, by providing a report on the latest developments. Special emphasis is given to the numerous open problems existing at present and the prospects for their possible solutions.
The general framework of the different approaches presented in the book is the meson theory of nuclear forces — where no free parameter is introduced — and the many-body treatment of nucleon-nucleon correlations. The ultimate hope of this world-wide effort is the understanding of the structure of nuclear matter, both in the ground state and at finite temperature.
The main audience addressed is the community of theoretical nuclear physicists, but nuclear experimentalists and astrophysicists will also find in the book an extensive amount of material of direct interest for their everyday work, particularly for those studying heavy-ion collisions, where the nuclear EOS is of special relevance. Finally, theoretical physicists working on elementary particle theory could find in the book some stimulating ideas and problems directly related to their field.
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