Unified description of structure and reactions: implementing the nuclear field theory program

The modern theory of the atomic nucleus results from the merging of the liquid drop model of Niels Bohr and Fritz Kalckar, and of the shell model of Marie Goeppert Meyer and Hans Jensen. The first model contributed the concepts of collective excitations. The second, those of independent-particle motion. The unification of these apparently contradictory views in terms of the particle-vibration and particle-rotation couplings carried out by Aage Bohr and Ben Mottelson has allowed for an ever more complete, accurate and detailed description of nuclear structure. Nuclear field theory (NFT), developed by the Copenhagen-Buenos Aires collaboration, provided a powerful quantal embodiment of this unification. Reactions are not only at the basis of quantum mechanics (statistical interpretation, Max Born), but also the specific tools to probe the atomic nucleus. It is then natural that NFT is being extended to deal with processes which involve the continuum in an intrinsic fashion, so as to be able to treat them on an equal footing with those associated with bound states (structure). As a result, spectroscopic studies of transfer to continuum states could eventually make use of the NFT rules, properly extended to take care of recoil effects. In the present contribution we review the implementation of the NFT program of structure and reactions, setting special emphasis on open problems and outstanding predictions.