Interacting-boson model emphasizes symmetry groups

Over the past few years a new model for even–even nuclei has been developed, in which one considers the nucleus as if it is made up of nucleon pairs that behave like bosons. Although many nuclear physicists were originally skeptical of the model, it is looking increasingly promising as some of its predictions are being experimentally observed. Recent attempts to establish a connection between the interacting-boson model and the microscopic behavior of nuclei are attracting attention, but the work is still controversial. Proponents of the theory think that they have already achieved a simple unified picture of several types of collective nuclear motion. They hope that their efforts will also lead to a unification of the collective and microscopic descriptions of nuclei. An important consequence of the model is that it predicts the presence of several kinds of dynamical symmetries in nuclei.