Constant temperature description of the nuclear level densities

The spin and parity dependent nuclear level densities (NLD) are calculated for medium-heavy nuclei using shell model techniques. The NLD are used to calculate cross sections and reaction rates of interest for nuclear astrophysics and nuclear energy applications. We investigate a new approach of describing the shell model NLD via a constant temperature parametrization. This approach provides new information about the effects of symmetries on the temperature of the low-lying nuclear states, and it is shown to be more versatile for applications.