The shapes of nuclei

Gerry Brown initiated some early studies on the coexistence of different nuclear shapes. The subject has continued to be of interest and is crucial for understanding nuclear fission. We now have a very good picture of the potential energy surface with respect to shape degrees of freedom in heavy nuclei, but the dynamics remain problematic. In contrast, the early studies on light nuclei were quite successful in describing the mixing between shapes. Perhaps a new approach in the spirit of the old calculations could better elucidate the character of the fission dynamics and explain phenomena that current theory does not model well.