Concludes a monumental eight-volume work in which the editor, in collaboration with more than 65 expert authors, has undertaken to review the status and prospects of the field to which the title refers, a branch of nuclear physics which owes much of its present vitality to the fairly recent development of energetic heavy-ion accelerators. Addressed mainly to experts, but intended to be accessible also to advanced students and to non-specialists. The present volume contains eight carefully written and edited reviews, crisply printed with many figures. (NW) Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
