Resonances in nuclear, atomic, and molecular physics—an introduction with some examples

Examples from music and nuclear, as well as atomic and molecular, physics are given to introduce and illustrate the resonance concept. Some fundamental concepts of scattering theory such as the differential and the total cross section are presented. The concept of the collision complex is illustrated with a light particle scattering reaction in nuclear physics. The concept of channels is introduced, and this formalism (which is so far empirical in nature) is dressed in the language of quantum mechanics. Finally I show that our descriptions of phenomena in nuclear physics can also be used in atomic and molecular physics.