The essential aspect of contemporary physics is to understand properties of
nucleonic matter that constitutes the world around us. Over the years rese
arch in nuclear physics has provided strong guidance in understanding the b
asic principles of nuclear interactions. But, the scenario of nuclear physi
cs changed drastically as the new generation of accelerators started provid
ing more and more rare isotopes, which are away from the line of stability.
These weakly bound nuclei are found to exhibit new forms of nuclear matter
and unprecedented exotic behaviour. The low breakup thresholds of these ra
re nuclei are posing new challenges to both theory and experiments. Fortuna
tely, nature has provided a few loosely bound stable nuclei that have been
studied thoroughly for decades. Attempts are being made to find a consisten
t picture for the unstable nuclei starting from their stable counterparts.
Some significant differences in the structure and reaction mechanisms are f
ound.