Randomness in nuclei and in the quark-gluon plasma

The issue of averaging randomness is addressed, mostly in nuclear physics, but shortly also in QCD. The Feshbach approach, so successful in dealing with the continuum spectrum of the atomic nuclei ("optical model"), is extended to encompass bound states as well ("shell model"). Its relationship with the random-matrix theory is discussed and the bearing of the latter on QCD, especially in connection with the spectrum of the Dirac operator, is briefly touched upon. Finally the question of whether Feshbach's theory can cope with the averaging required by QCD is considered.