Photonuclear data and modern physics of giant resonances

The results of the development ('renaissance') of giant-resonance physics are briefly discussed from the point of view of their application to creating a photonuclear database. It is indicated that part of the recommendations from corresponding libraries of data are not at the level of the present-day status of giant-resonance physics. A Lorentzian parametrization of the most reliable experimental data on isovector M1 resonances is constructed for seven spherical nuclei, and it is shown that the widths of M1 resonances are several fold, sometimes an order of magnitude, smaller than the value of Γ0 = 4 MeV, which was recommended for all nuclei. The need for microscopically taking into account configurations more complex than those that are included within the standard random-phase approximation or within the quasiparticle random-phase approximation is emphasized. To be more precise, it is necessary to take into account coupling to phonons, since this changes the temperature dependence of the resonance width in relation to that which was used earlier and since, without this, one cannot explain the properties of pygmy dipole resonances in the region of the nucleon binding energy. Our calculations of the average energies of the pygmy dipole resonances in the Ca and Sn isotopes within the microscopic extended theory of finite Fermi systems reveal that the inclusion of coupling to phonons reduces these energies considerably toward the improvement of agreement with experimental data. The idea of creating a library of photonuclear data for unstable nuclei, including fission fragments, on the basis of the extended theory of finite Fermi systems is discussed in connection with the fact that information necessary for fitting the parameters of phenomenological theories is absent or insufficient for such nuclei