Preface

The present volume contains the lectures and short talks given at the XXIII International school on nuclear physics, neutron physics and applications. The meeting was held on September 22-28, 2019 in Riviera Beach Hotel at the resort Golden Sands near Varna, Bulgaria. The Varna school was organized by the Institute for nuclear research and nuclear energy of Bulgarian academy of sciences. In keeping with a long-standing tradition, the school has been held every second year since 1973. The school’s program has been restructured to encompass our new international links and today it is more like an international conference than to a classical nuclear physics school. More than sixty participants from fifteen countries enjoyed the scientific presentations and fruitful discussions during the pleasant autumn days at the Beach sea shore. The program of the school spanned the latest results in fundamental areas such as nuclear structure and reactions as well as examples of the latest applications of nuclear methods. The main topics of the presentations were: • Exotic nuclei and their properties • Nuclear structure • Super heavy elements, synthesis and properties • Rare processes and decays • Radioactive beams, production and research programs • Evolution of shell structure • Collective modes of the nucleus • Nuclear astrophysics • Applications of exotic beams in materials research • Current and future nuclear facilities We would like to thank all participants, members of the advisory and local organizing committees for their contribution to the success of the XXIII International school on nuclear physics, neutron physics and applications. We are also grateful to the reviewers for their positive contribution to the high standard of the articles presented in this volume. Finally, we would like to thank the Bulgarian national science fund, the Bulgarian national regulatory agency and the Bogoliubov Laboratory for theoretical physics of the Joint institute for nuclear research, Dubna, Russia, for their financial support. Dimitar Tonev, Sevdalina Dimitrova, Chavdar Stoyanov Co-Chairs of the Organizing committee of the XXIII International school on nuclear physics, neutron physics and applications