Nuclear Level Densities

A summary of some recent level density research is presented. Although the subject is an old one, it is argued that a number of unanswered questions remain. These include uncertainties in related quantities such as the parity ratio and the spin cutoff parameter, which are needed to deduce level density parameters from resonance counting for low energy neutrons. Additional points of interest are the extent to which the low energy region shows constant temperature rather than Fermi gas energy dependence, whether the region below the neutron binding energy shows significant structure and whether the level density for fixed A shows a drop for neutron-rich and proton-rich nuclei compared to nuclei on the valley of stability.