The role of the Roper resonance in the nuclear many-body problem

The intention of this lecture is to review the dynamical role of the lowest excited state of the nucleon, the Roper resonance or N*(1440), in nuclear systems. We discuss first its couplings to meson-nucleon channels and, base d on these couplings, its contribution to the two-body and three-body inter action respectively. The importance of the Roper resonance as baryonic exci tation for particle production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is then examined, particularly in view of recent results obtained at the GSI-SIS F acility.