Two-body random ensembles: from nuclear spectra to random polynomials

The two-body random ensemble for a many-body bosonic theory is mapped to a problem of random polynomials on the unit interval. In this way one can understand the predominance of 0(+) ground states, and analytic expressions can be derived for distributions of lowest eigenvalues, energy gaps, density of states, and so forth. Recently studied nuclear spectroscopic properties are addressed.