Analyzing shell structure from Babylonian and modern times

Abstract

We investigate ``shell structure'' from Babylonian times: periodicities and beats in computer-simulated lunar data corresponding to those observed by Babylonian scribes some 2500 years ago. We discuss the mathematical similarity between the Babylonians' recently reconstructed method of determining one of the periods of the moon with modern Fourier analysis and the interpretation of shell structure in finite fermion systems (nuclei, metal clusters, quantum dots) in terms of classical closed or periodic orbits.Comment: LaTeX2e, 13pp, 8 figs; contribution to 10th Nuclear Physics Workshop "Marie and Pierre Curie", 24 - 28 Sept. 2003, Kazimierz Dolny (Poland); final version accepted for J. Mod. Phys.