Electromagnetic Response of Atomic Nuclei

This book covers the structure and dynamics of atomic nuclei in terms of nucleons, pions, and quarks, all within a unified treatment of the nuclear response to an electromagnetic probe. The basic formalism is presented to describe the electromagnetic field and its interaction with nuclear matter for both real and virtual photons. Nuclear response is then analyzed in terms of structure functions in the case of inclusive and semi-inclusive inelastic electron scattering. The discussion covers pion production and one- or two-nucleon emission and compares the results with available data. The formalism is also extended to incident polarized electrons, polarized targets and nuclear recoil polarization. It contains a comprehensive description of photonuclear reactions at intermediate energies and a review of experimental data and previous theoretical approaches.

In this book the authors present the basic formalism to describe the electromagnetic field and its interaction with nuclear matter. Among the areas studied are pion production, polarization phenomena, and photonuclear reactions at intermediate energies. At a time when data will become available from many newly commissioned laboratories both in Europe and the USA, this book offers a timely presentation of the current understanding of the electromagnetic response of atomic nuclei. Its introductory approach and rich bibliography will make it invaluable to postgraduate students and researchers.

1. - Historical introduction
2. - The electromagnetic interaction
3. - Elastic scattering
4. - Form factors of excited baryons
5. - Inclusive inelastic scattering
6. - Semi-inclusive inelastic scattering
7. - One-nucleon knockout reactions
8. - Two-nucleon emission
9. - Meson production
10. - The deep-inelastic response
11. - Spin degrees of freedom
12. - Polarization experiments