DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STUDY OF NUCLEAR CLUSTERING IN LIGHT EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI

We review some of the developments in the experimental and theoretical understanding of cluster symmetries. We pay particular attention to t he association of clustering with highly deformed configurations and t o the ways in which the symmetries of the nuclear interaction give ris e to many different cluster modes. On the experimental side we concent rate particularly on those experimental studies of clustering where re sonant particle spectroscopy is applied to breakup reactions, using po sition-sensitive, charged-particle detectors. We investigate the role of clustering and cluster models in nuclear reactions and examine the recent evidence for or-cluster chain configurations in the light even- even nuclei from Be-8 to Si-28. On the theoretical side, we briefly in troduce fully microscopic models, but concentrate mainly on Bloch-Brin k and local potential cluster models. The double-resonance mechanism, band-crossing model and recent work on explicit models of the interact ion between deformed nuclei are also summarized.