This series, Finite Systems and Multipartide Dynamics, is intended to provide timely reviews of current research topics, written in a style sufficient ly pedagogic so as to allow a nonexpert to grasp the underlying ideas as well as understand technical details. The series is an outgrowth of our involvement with three interdisciplin ary activities, namely, those arising from the American Physical Society's Topical Group on Few-Body Systems and Multipartide Dynamics, the series of Gordon Research Conferences first known by the title "Few-Body Problems in Chemistry and Physics" and later renamed "Dynamics of Simple Systems in Chemistry and Physics," and the series of Sanibel Symposia, sponsored in part by the University of Florida. The vitality of these activities and the enthusiastic response to them by researchers in various subfields of physics and chemistry have convinced us that there is a place-even a need-for a series of timely reviews on topics of interest not only to a narrow band of experts but also to a broader, interdisciplinary readership. lt is our hope that the emphasis on pedagogy will permit at least some of the books in the series to be useful in graduate-level courses. Rather than use the adjective "Few-Body" or "Simple" to modify the word "Systems" in the title, we have chosen "Finite. " It better expresses the wide range of systems with which the reviews of the series may deal.

The sixteenth European Conference on Few Body Problems in Physics has taken place from June 1 to June 6, 1998, in Autrans, a little village in the mountains, close to Grenoble. The Conference follows those organized in Peniscola (1995), Amsterdam (1993), Elba (1991), Uzhgorod (1990) ... The present one has been organized by a group of physicists working in different fields at the University Joseph Fourier of Grenoble who find in this occasion a good opportunity to join their efforts. The core of the organizing committee was nevertheless located at the Institut des Sciences Nucleaires, whose physicists, especially in the group of theoretical physics, have a long tradition in the domain. The Few Body Conference has a natural tendency to be a theoretical one - the exchange about the methods used in different fields is the common point to most participants. It also has a tendency to be a hadronic physics one - the corresponding physics community, perhaps due to the existence of experimen tal facilities devoted to the study of few body systems, is better organized. In preparing the scientific program, we largely relied on the advices of the Inter national Advisory Committee, while avoiding to follow these trends too closely.

In this Supplement we have collected the invited and contributed talks pre sented at the XVIII European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, organised by the Jozef Stefan Institute and the University of Ljubljana, Slove nia. The Conference, sponsored by the European Physical Society, took place at the lakeside resort of Bled from 8 to 14 September, 2002. This meeting was a part of the series of European Few-Body Conferences, previously held in Evora/Portugal (2000), Autrans/France (1998), Peniscola/Spain (1995), ... Our aim was to emphasise, to a larger extent than at previous Conferences, the interdisciplinarity of research fields of the Few-Body community. To pro mote a richer exchange of ideas, we therefore strived to avoid parallel sessions as much as possible. On the other hand, to promote the participation of young scientists who we feel will eventually shape the future of Few-Body Physics, we wished to give almost all attendees the opportunity to speak.

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

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