Polarizabilities of light nuclei

An overview of the present knowledge of the polarizabilities of light nuclei will be presented. It will be explained why this knowledge is at present rather limited, describing the difficulties in the theoretical calculations and how they may be overcome using integral transform approaches. Results obtained for systems up to A=7 will be presented and their sensitivity to the potential model will be discussed. The need of an experimental determination of these observables in light systems will be emphasized.