AGATA: Nuclear structure advancements with high-energy $$\gamma $$ rays

High-energy rays are emitted either in the decay of nuclear discrete states (generally located in the proximity of the particle-emission threshold) or in the electromagnetic decay of collective states. The branching ratio is rather small, therefore in alternative/coincidence with high-energy rays one could have neutron or charged-particle emission. The precise measurement of these branching ratios allows a more comprehensive description of the nucleus and, in particular, the selection of the nuclear models which better describes the interplay between the different acting forces and couplings. In the case of the electromagnetic decay of collective states, the precise identification of the populated low-lying states allows the measurement of their wave-function and/or of their ‘bulk’ properties. This information provides, also in this case, a stringent test for the nuclear models. In both cases, to compensate these small branching ratio, a large number of detectors and an accurate selection of a small region of the phase space are needed. AGATA is considered to constitute an optimal array for this kind of measurements. In fact, AGATA, because of its high granularity and its excellent energy resolution, can detect the high-energy rays emitted in a specific decay path or associated to specific reaction channels, shapes, deformations. In the introduction, some details on the measurement of high-energy rays using HPGe detector are discussed. The sections of this paper focus on the measurements of high-energy rays to obtain the photon strength function, the nuclear level density and to identify extreme shapes in highly excited nuclei.