Nuclear Forces

Abstract

THERE is a mass of experimental material in nuclear physics, much of which gives information about the forces acting between nuclear particles. The theory of nuclear forces, on the other hand, is still inadequate. Even the law of force between two nucleons is unknown, though meson theory suggests a form, but leaves numerous parameters to be settled by comparison with experiment. The research literature of nuclear physics is consequently chaotic, and the appearance of a book on the subject is to be welcomed. In his preface, Prof. L. Rosenfeld explains the reasons which led him to adopt a discursive approach to his subject at the expense of brevity and at the risk of losing the basically simple thread of the argument. The result has been a book which is not easy to read quickly by anybody who wants to discover the central ideas of the subject. The wealth of detail, which might well have been relegated to appendixes, will prove very valuable to research workers in the field, particularly to those entering it for the first time, but may well try the patience of the more general reader trying to learn something of this important branch of physics.

Nuclear Forces

By Prof. L. Rosenfeld. (Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Physics, Vol. 1.) Pp. xix+181. (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1948.) £1 4s. 5d.