100 80 o o Q_ §40 o ^20 0 ! | 1 | 1 -I~~ i I E2 N Lv i i i i i i i -1 i _ /El M\ l . i T +-^, ---0 10 20 30 % E2 40 50 60 FIG. 3. Multipole composition of the statistical region (1.7-2.5 MeV) consistent with the measured conversion coefficients, shown as a function of the percent E2 contribution. Typical error bars are shown to indicate the experimental uncertainties.for the high-energy part of the yrast spectrum. 6 Our findings for the multipolarity are consistent with the angular-distribution data from Refs. 2, 3, 6, and 7 that employed heavy-ion-induced reactions, but there is an apparent disagreement with the (a,xn) work of Feenstra et al. 5 In the (a,4n) reaction at 47 MeV the maximum angular momentum J nWi that can be reached is ~ 24. In contrast, the 20 Ne reactions of 130 MeV give J In view of this difference in angular momenta it is conceivable that the statistical cascades involved in the continuum reached by the low spins in the (a, 4n) reaction are different and proceed essentially by El transitions.In summary, we have established that for the 20 Ne + 150 Nd reactions investigated, the El fraction for the statistical cascades lies in the range (45-71)%, that the middle of the yrast region is dominated by E2 transitions, and that the lowerenergy part of the yrast region is increasingly dominated by Ml radiation.The help of R. Woodward in collection and reduction of the data is appreciated.I present the first results of a precise measurement of the intense-field Stark effect in highly excited states of atomic hydrogen, a prototype system for experimental and theoretical studies of resonant states in the nonperturbative regime. I show that the quantity n 4 F (in atomic units), known to be important for field ionization, also governs the divergence properties of the perturbation series for the energy shift,The interaction of a nonrelativistic hydrogen atom with a static electric field F = Fz is a historic problem in atomic physics. As F increases, the degenerate energy levels of each excited state fan out until, finally, the rate of decay by ionization exceeds that of spontaneous emission, and levels fade away. Each level is conveniently labeled by its parabolic quantum numbers {q}