Three lectures on macroscopic aspects of nuclear dynamics

In these lectures a theory of the dynamics of nuclear shape changes for small (sub-sonic) collective velocities is described. Three forces, conservative, dissipative and inertial are needed for the equation of motion. The first lecture deals with conservative forces and stresses the division of the underlying potential energy into local, proximity, and global terms. In the second lecture a similar classification is suggested for the dissipative forces and goes on to consider the local part, the underlying physics being the approximate validity of the independent-particle model. This, combined with the randomization hypothesis, leads to simple dissipation formulae which suggest that dissipative forces may often overshadow the inertial forces. The third lecture considers particularly simple equations of motion and explores some of the consequences. (U.K.)