Thermodynamic and electromagnetic properties of atomic nuclei

Various aspects of nuclear structure at high excitation energy and low spin will be investigated. The heating of the nucleus is performed through the bombardment by light ions. The increased energy of the protons and neutrons resluts in higher temperature inside the nucleus. A powerful detector system containing hundreds of single detectors (the CACTUS system) detects gamma rays and charged particles. From the measurements one can build models for the physical mechanisms taking place inside the nuclear vo lume. The properties of heated nuclear matter can to some extend be described as a Fermi gas. However, experimentally one observes deviations from this simple picture - as a result of the limited number of nuclear particles. These deviations are of parti cular interest and the nuclear level density is an important source of information. The project also includes the study of gamma-decay routes in continuum. The decay is governed by the so-called gamma-ray strength function, which is only poorly known. G enerally, we find deviations from the strength predicted from the giant electric dipole resonance. These findings are important input in large network calculations on supernovae explosions. The projects involves several countries and will be highly inter national.