The shell model as unified view of nuclear structure

The last decade has witnessed both quantitative and qualitative progresses in Shell Model studies, which have resulted in remarkable gains in our understanding of the structure of the nucleus. Indeed, it is now possible to diagonalize matrices in determinantal spaces of dimensionality up to 10^9 using the Lanczos tridiagonal construction, whose formal and numerical aspects we will analyze. Besides, many new approximation methods have been developed in order to overcome the dimensionality limitations. Furthermore, new effective nucleon-nucleon interactions have been constructed that contain both two and three-body contributions. The former are derived from realistic potentials (i.e., consistent with two nucleon data). The latter incorporate the pure monopole terms necessary to correct the bad saturation and shell-formation properties of the realistic two-body forces. This combination appears to solve a number of hitherto puzzling problems. In the present review we will concentrate on those results which illustrate the global features of the approach: the universality of the effective interaction and the capacity of the Shell Model to describe simultaneously all the manifestations of the nuclear dynamics either of single particle or collective nature. We will also treat in some detail the problems associated with rotational motion, the origin of quenching of the Gamow Teller transitions, the double beta-decays, the effect of isospin non conserving nuclear forces, and the specificities of the very neutron rich nuclei. Many other calculations--that appear to have ``merely'' spectroscopic interest--are touched upon briefly, although we are fully aware that much of the credibility of the Shell Model rests on them