Phenomenological correlations in nuclear structure: An opportunity for nuclear astrophysics and a challenge to theory

摘要

Though it often appears daunting in its complexity, nuclear data frequently exhibits remarkable simplicities when viewed from the appropriate perspectives. This realization, which is becoming more and more apparent, is one of the fruits of the vast amount of nuclear data that has been accumulated over many years but, surprisingly, has never been completely digested. This emerging, unified, and simple macroscopic phenomenology, aided by microscopic underpinnings and physical arguments, appears in many guises and often simplifies semi-empirical estimates of structure far from stability in the critical realms where nuclear astrophysics takes place and where it is in need for improved nuclear input. The generality of simple phenomenological relationships begs both for a sound theoretical basis and for the advent of Radioactive Nuclear Beams so that the reliability of their extrapolations can be assessed and tested. These issues will be discussed, and illustrated with a number of specific examples.