GAMMA-DECAY OF GIANT-DIPOLE RESONANCES AND THE SHAPES AND FLUCTUATIONS OF HOT NUCLEI

Developments in the study of the gamma decay of Giant Dipole Resonances (GDR) in hot nuclei are discussed. The main emphasis here is on experiments and theoretical efforts aimed at understanding the average shapes and fluctuations of the shapes of excited nuclei from studies of the angular distribution of the high energy gamma rays emitted when Giant Dipole Resonances in nuclei with large thermal energy decay.