Similarities and Differences Between Nuclei and Metal Clusters

Abstract

Besides the topic of this volume, namely clustering in nuclei, the keyword "cluster" addresses a special form of large molecules consisting out of the same building blocks (atoms or small molecules) piled up to a large compound, so to say a small piece of a solid. A particular species are metal clusters whose valence electrons can be viewed as Fermi liquid. This establishes the similarity to nuclei which also consist of the Fermi liquid of protons and neutrons. In this article, we discuss similarities and differences of nuclei and metal clusters with respect to structure, resonance excitations, and fission. The latter process is closely related, again, to clustering, the emergence of sub-units in a larger compound.