Gamma strength functions and the Brink-Axel hypothesis

Experimental tests of the Brink-Axel hypothesis relating gamma strength functions (GSF) deduced from absorption and emission experiments are discussed. High-resolution inelastic proton scattering at energies of a few hundred MeV and at very forwrd angles including $0^\circ$ presents a new approach to test the validity of the BA hypothesis in the energy region of the pygmy dipole resonance. Such data not only provide the GSF but also the level density and thus permit an independent test of their model-dependent decomposition in the Oslo method.