Study of the structure of unstable nuclei through the reaction experiments

Along with the development of the radioactive nuclear beam facility, the study of the structure of unstable nuclei has progressed rapidly over the last few decades. Due to the weakly binding property, the structure information of the unstable nuclei comes primarily from the scattering or reaction experiments. Therefore it would be very important to understand clearly the reaction mechanism involved in the experiment. We outlined here the major reaction mechanisms which are adequate to the study of unstable nuclei, with the focus on the new phenomena and methods in comparison with those with traditional stable nucleus beam. Especially emphasized are the breakup and knockout reactions, developed as accurate tools for spectroscopy investigation into the nuclear structure with low intensity secondary beam. Couplings of the breakup channel to the elastic scattering and the fusion and transfer reactions are also reviewed.