Nuclear Physics A212 (1973) 627; (~) North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam

BOOK REVIEWS

E. G. FULLER, H. M. GERSTENBERG, H. VANDER MOLEN, T. C. DUNN, Photonuclear reaction data, 1973 (National Bureau of Standards, Washington, 1973; $ 2.10)

A brief summary is given of the available data on the gross features of the photonuclear giant resonance. Data are presented in tabular form for all nuclei where measurements have been made. In addition, a comprehensive, annotated data index and bibliography are given which cover experimental data for the field of photonuclear reactions published in scientific and technical journals in the period from 1955 through 1972. Organized by element and isotope, each entry in the index is for a specific reaction reported in a given reference. Information is given on the type of measurement, excitation energies studies, source type and energies, detector type and angular ranges covered for each reaction entry.

FI. M. NUSSENZVEm, Causality and dispersion relations (Academic Press, New York, 1972; x-435 pp.; $ 26.00).

This book is intended as an introduction to dispersion relations. It originated in a series of lectures and is concerned only with classical (scalar) fields and non-relativistic (single-channel) quantum scattering.

This is an excellent book which is not just a collection of the simple problems which can be given an easy mathematical treatment and are now to be found in several books on scattering theory. Rather, considering only finite range or exponential interactions, the author has presented a very complete analysis of the physical implications of causality on dispersion relations and on the analytical structure of the S-matrix. Within this framework, the author approaches the subject with more mathematical rigour than usual, yet he has produced a monograph that is pleasant reading for a physicist. This attitude toward the mathematical tool is justified because the methods used for low-energy single-channel problems and the results they gave, have largely influenced the analysis of much more complicated problems arising at higher energies. This broadens the usefulness and the readership of the book. Besides the expected chapters on causality, dispersion relations and the anal- ytical structure of the S-matrix, the text also contains sections or chapters on the physical interpretation of the S-matrix singularities (including a discussion of the transient-mode propagator of the Schr~dinger equation), and an introduction to Regge poles and the Mandelstam representation. About half of the sixty pages of appendices are devoted to the theory of distributions.

J. Humblet

LANDOLT-BORNSTEIN, Numerical data and functional relationships in science and technology (ed. K.-H. Hellwege, Springer Verlag). Group I: Nuclear and particle physics, vol. 5: Reaction energy and excitation functions of nuclear reactions (ed. H. Schopper).

Part a: K. A. KELLER, J. LANGE and H. MiiNZEL, Q-values (1973; viii-666 pp.; DM 320). Part b: K. A. KELLER, J. LANGE, H. MiiNZEL and G. PFENNIG, Excitation functions for charged-

particle induced nuclear reactions (1973; vii-493 pp.; DM 248).

Extensive tables and graphs conceived and arranged on a lavish scale for practical use. Thus, part b has three tables of reactions respectively ordered according to target, products and reaction type. A further volume (part c: Systematics of excitation functions for nuclear reactions induced by p, d, aHe and 0t) is in preparation.

L . R .

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