Interaction of polarized beams with particles and nuclei

This review has two aims: to present the formalism which describes the spin-polarization observables in terms of spin-state transition amplitudes in a manner that reveals the required correspondence between the theoretical and experimental definitions of the observables; then to emphasize that spin physics, the experimental and theoretical investigations of spin-polarization effects in scattering and reactions, has become a clear unifying element among the otherwise seemingly disparate fields of nuclear, particle and electron-scattering physics. Illustrative examples of research results in these fields are used to demonstrate this commonality. The important role of intrinsic spin in providing experimental investigations of parity conservation, charge symmetry and time-reversal invariance is discussed. (Author)