This book provides a useful survey and assessment of the study of low-energy collective and single particle excitations of medium and heavy nuclei. An ideal resource for graduate students, the book covers both experimental and theoretical perspectives. The author's simple intuitive approach will help the reader to understand the empirical systematics as well as detailed model calculations, without recourse to complex--and often--confusing formalism.

Nuclear structure physics is undergoing a major revival, full of activities and excitement. On the experimental side, this is being made possible by advances in detector technology and accelerator capabilities that give access to data and nuclei (especially exotic nuclei far from stability) never before accessible. On the theoretical side, new concepts, ideas and computational techniques are advancing our understanding of effective interactions, nucleonic correlations, and symmetries of structure.This volume covers a broad range of topics on nuclear structure, including collective...