From exotic nuclei and phase transitions in hadronic matter to cancer therapy heavy-ion research at GSI Darmstadt

The breakup of heavy ions in peripheral collisions at relativistic energies offers a rich field of nuclear studies such as investigation of nuclear structure, production of energetic beams of exotic nuclei, and studies of hot nuclear matter.The production of relativistic beams of exotic nuclei by fragmentation opens up a new area of nuclear structure research. The interest of experimental studies on the structure of exotic nuclei and high-spin states, heavy ion reactions, nuclear theory, positron production in atomic systems, few-electron systems. A short hint to the use of proton beams for cancer therapy is made without further explanation. (D.L.)