Extended theory of finite Fermi systems: collective vibrations in closed shell nuclei

We review an extension of Migdal's Theory of Finite Fermi Systems which has been developed and applied to collective vibrations in closed shell nuclei in the past ten years. This microscopic approach is based on a consistent use of the Green function method. Here one considers in a consistent way more complex 1p1h$\otimes$phonon configurations beyond the RPA correlations. Moreover, these configurations are not only included in the excited states but also explicitly in the ground states of nuclei. The method has been applied to the calculation of the strength distribution and transition densities of giant electric and magnetic resonances in stable and unstable magic nuclei. Using these microscopic transition densities, cross sections for inelastic electron and alpha scattering have been calculated and compared with the available experimental data. The method also allows one to extract in a consistent way the magnitude of the strength of the various multipoles in the energy regions in which several multipoles overlap. We compare the microscopic transition densities, the strength distributions and the various multipole strengths with their values extracted phenomenologically