Electromagnetic reactions on light nuclei are fundamental to advance our understanding of nuclear structure and dynamics. The perturbative nature of the electromagnetic probes allows to clearly connect measured cross sections with the calculated structure properties of nuclear targets. We present an overview on recent theoretical ab-initio calculations of electron-scattering and photonuclear reactions involving light nuclei. We encompass both the conventional approach and the novel theoretical framework provided by chiral effective field theories. Because both strong and electromagnetic interactions are involved in the processes under study, comparison with available experimental data provides stringent constraints on both many-body nuclear Hamiltonians and electromagnetic currents. We discuss what we have learned from studies on electromagnetic observables of light nuclei, starting from the deuteron and reaching up to nuclear systems with mass number A=16.
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