Odd behavior of giant quadrupole resonance

Intensive study of an isoscalar giant electric quadrupole resonance in nuclear spectra, stimulated by its apparent discovery several years ago at a position just below the well established giant dipole resonance, has produced a modified—and puzzling—picture of its behavior. Stanley Hanna of Stanford University summarized the current experimental status of the giant quadrupole resonance (GQR) at a conference on Nuclear Structure and Spectroscopy held in Amsterdam, 9–13 September.