Quantum phase transitions in the collective degrees of freedom: nuclei and other many-body systems

Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) represent a quickly developing subject of theoretical and experimental research. Nuclear physics contributed to the formation of the QPT concept in the 1970s and remains an area where new viewpoints and original approaches to criticality in many-body systems can be created. In this review, we present a comprehensible introduction to the subject, with an emphasis on the role of nuclear physics, and point out some specific features of QPTs in the systems that exhibit an effective separation of some collective degrees of freedom. The focus on collectivity, which stems from the nuclear context, is an essential ingredient of our treatise. It leads to some consequences that find application in nuclei as well as in a wide spectrum of non-nuclear systems. (invited comment)