Nuclear-matter distributions of halo nuclei from elastic proton scattering in inverse kinematics

Proton-nucleus elastic scattering at intermediate energies, a well-established method for probing nuclear-matter density distributions of stable nuclei, was applied for the first time to exotic nuclei. This method is demonstrated to be an effective means for obtaining accurate and detailed information on the size and radial shape of halo nuclei. Absolute differential cross-sections for small-angle scattering were measured at energies near 700 MeV/u for the neutron-rich helium isotopes ⁶He and ⁸He, and more recently for the lithium isotopes ⁶Li, ⁸Li, ⁹Li and ¹¹Li, using He and Li beams provided by the fragment separator FRS at GSI Darmstadt. Experiments were performed in inverse kinematics using the hydrogen-filled ionization chamber IKAR which served simultaneously as target and recoil-proton detector. For deducing nuclear-matter distributions, differential cross-sections calculated with the aid of the Glauber multiple-scattering theory, using various parametrizations for the nucleon density distributions as input, were fitted to the experimental cross-sections. The results on nuclear-matter radii and matter distributions are presented, and the significance of the data for a halo structure is discussed. Nuclear-matter distributions obtained for ⁶He and ⁸He conform with the concept that both nuclei compose of α-particle like cores and significant neutron halos. The matter distribution in ¹¹Li exhibits, as expected from previous reaction cross-section studies with nuclear targets, the by far most extended halo component of all nuclei being investigated. In addition the present data allow a quantitative comparison of the structure of the He and Li isobares of either the mass number A = 6 or A = 8. The measured differential cross-sections have also been used for probing density distributions as predicted from various microscopic calculations. A few examples are presented. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: p.egelhof@gsi.de     

Proton magic even-even isotopes and giant halos of Ca isotopes with relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov theory

We study the proton magic O, Ca, Ni, Zr, Sn, and Pb isotope chains from the proton drip line to the neutron drip line with the relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov (RCHB) theory. Particulary, we study in detail the properties of even-even Ca isotopes due to the appearance of giant halos in neutron rich Ca nuclei near the neutron drip line. The RCHB theory is able to reproduce the experimental binding energiesE _b and two neutron separation energiesS _2n very well. The predicted neutron drip line nuclei are²⁸O,⁷²Ca,⁹⁸Ni,¹³⁶Zr,¹⁷⁶Sn, and²⁶⁶Pb. Halo and giant halo properties predicted in Ca isotopes withA>60 are investigated in detail through analysis of two neutron separation energies, nucleon density distributions, single particle energy levels, and the occupation probabilities of energy levels including continuum states. The spin-orbit splitting and the diffuseness of nuclear potential in these Ca isotopes, as well as the neighboring lighter isotopes in the drip line Ca region and find certain possibilities of giant halo nuclei in the Ne−Na−Mg drip line nuclei are also studied.     

Nuclear structure studies on halo nuclei by direct reactions with radioactive beams

The investigation of direct reactions with exotic beams in inverse kinematics gives access to a wide field of nuclear structure studies in the region far off stability. The basic concept and the methods involved are briefly discussed. The present contribution will focus on the investigation of light neutron-rich halo nuclei. Such nuclei reveal a new type of nuclear structure, namely an extended neutron distribution surrounding a nuclear core. An overview on this phenomenon, and on the various methods which gave first evidence and qualitative confirmation of our present picture of halo nuclei, is given. To obtain more quantitative information on the radial shape of halo nuclei, elastic proton scattering on neutron-rich light nuclei at intermediate energies was recently investigated for the first time. This method is demonstrated to be an effective means for studying the nuclear matter distributions of such nuclei. The results on the nuclear matter radii of ⁶He and ⁸He, the deduced nuclear matter density distributions, and the significance of the data on the halo structure is discussed. The present data allow also a sensitive test of theoretical model calculations on the structure of neutron-rich helium isotopes. A few examples are presented. The investigation of few-nucleon transfer reactions in inverse kinematics may provide new and complementary information on nuclear structure, as well as astrophysical questions. The physics motivation and the experimental concept for such experiments, to be performed due to momentum matching reasons at low incident energies around 5–20 MeV/u at the new generation low energy radioactive beam facilities SPIRAL, PIAFE, etc., is briefly discussed.     

Sensitivity of cross sections for elastic nucleus-nucleus scattering to halo nucleus density distributions

In order to clear up the sensitivity of the nucleus-nucleus scattering to the nuclear matter distributions in exotic halo nuclei, we have calculated differential cross sections for elastic scattering of the ⁶He and ¹¹Li nuclei on several nuclear targets at the energy of 0.8 GeV/nucleon with different assumed nuclear density distributions in ⁶He and ¹¹Li.     

Evidence for a proton halo in 27P through measurements of reaction cross-sections at intermediate energies

Measurements of reaction cross-sections ( σ_R's) for some proton-rich nuclei ( N = 11–15 isotones) on carbon target at intermediate energies have been performed on RIBLL of HIRFL. A larger enhancement of the σ_R for ²⁷P has been observed than for its neighboring nuclei. A large difference between the proton and neutron density distributions (proton halo) is necessary to explain the enhanced cross-section for ²⁷P within the framework of the Glauber model. Density distributions with HO-type core plus Yukawa-square tail and rms radii for ²⁷P have been deduced from the measured σ_R data for the first time, which conform the long tail in its densities as predicted by RMF calculations. Received: 23 May 2001 / Accepted: 7 November 2001     

Microscopic study on proton elastic scattering of light exotic nuclei at energies below than 100 MeV/nucleon

The proton elastic scattering data on some light exotic nuclei, namely, ^{6, 8}He, ^{9, 11}Li, and ^{10, 11, 12}Be, at energies below than 100MeV/nucleon are analyzed using the single folding optical model. The real, imaginary, and spin-orbit parts of the optical potential (OP) are constructed only from the folded potentials and their derivatives using M3Y effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. These OP parts, their renormalization factors and their volume integrals are studied. The surface and spin-orbit potentials are important to fit the experimental data. Three model densities for halo nuclei are used and the sensitivity of the cross-sections to these densities is tested. The imaginary OP within high-energy approximation is used and compared with the single folding OP. This OP with few and limited fitting parameters, which have systematic behavior with incident energy, successfully describes the proton elastic scattering data with exotic nuclei.     

Taking into Account the Centre-of-Mass Correlations in the Cross Sections for Elastic Scattering of Intermediate Energy Protons on the Exotic Nuclei <Superscript>6</Superscript>He and <Superscript>8</Superscript>He

We calculate the differential cross sections for proton elastic scattering on the exotic halo nuclei ⁶He and ⁸He at energies around ~0.7 GeV at the momentum transfers squared up to 0.30 (GeV/c)² and investigate the influence of the nucleon centre-of-mass correlations on the calculated cross sections. In particular, we show that the approximate account of the centre-of-mass correlations used previously considerably overestimates the cross sections at high values of the momentum transfer.     

DWBA approach to inelastic scattering at medium energies

Medium energy proton elastic and inelastic scattering to states of ⁵⁸Ni and ²⁰⁸Pb, and ⁴He elastic and inelastic scattering to states of ⁴⁰Ca, are analyzed using the partial wave approach, by solving the Schrödinger equation with relativistic kinematics and using the distorted wave Born approximation. Our results can be compared with results of several previous analyses of the nucleon inelastic data using the Glauber approximation. Our calculations are absolute, using nuclear collective parameters obtained from a survey of a large number of low-energy analyses of inelastic scattering of electrons, nucleons and nuclei from ⁴⁰Ca, ⁵⁸Ni and ²⁰⁸Pb.     

Neutron halos in hypernuclei

Properties of single- Λ and double- Λ hypernuclei for even-N Ca isotopes ranging from the proton dripline to the neutron dripline are studied using the relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov theory with a zero-range pairing interaction. Compared with ordinary nuclei, the addition of one or two Λ-hyperons lowers the Fermi level. The predicted neutron dripline nuclei are, respectively, ⁷⁵ _ΛCa and ⁷⁶ _2ΛCa, as the additional attractive force provided by the Λ-N interaction shifts nuclei from outside to inside the dripline. Therefore, the last bound hypernuclei have two more neutrons than the corresponding ordinary nuclei. Based on the analysis of two-neutron separation energies, neutron single-particle energy levels, the contribution of continuum and nucleon density distribution, giant halo phenomena due to the pairing correlation, and the contribution from the continuum are suggested to exist in Ca hypernuclei similar to those that appear in ordinary Ca isotopes. Received: 21 October 2002 / Accepted: 11 January 2003 / Published online: 8 April 2003     

Studying of the neutron halo structure in quasi-free proton scattering from 6He Halo nucleus

An experimental method based on an analysis of the neutron-neutron correlations in reactions induced by halo nuclei in nuclear photoemulsion is proposed for studying the two-neutron halo structure. Photoemulsion stacks were exposed to a beam of radioactive ⁶He nuclei. Preliminary data on interaction of the ⁶He halo nucleus to hydrogen are compared with the results of the kinematic calculation for the reaction of quasi-free proton scattering from clusters making up the ⁶He halo nucleus. A fraction of quasi-free scattering events with “survival” of the dineutron is evaluated for scattering of protons by the dineutron configuration of the ⁶He nucleus.     

Sensitivity of reaction cross sections to halo nucleus density distributions

In order to clear up the sensitivity of the nucleus-nucleus reaction cross sections σ _R to the nuclear matter distributions in exotic halo nuclei, we have calculated the values of σ _R for scattering of ⁶He, ¹¹Li, and ¹⁹C nuclei on several nuclear targets at the energy of 0.8 GeV/nucleon. The calculations were performed in the “rigid target” approximation to the Glauber theory, different shapes of the nuclear density distributions in ⁶He, ¹¹Li, and ¹⁹C being assumed.     

Momentum distributions in A = 3 and 4 nuclei

We develop a general Monte Carlo method to study momentum distributions of nucleons and nucleon clusters in nuclei. The method is used to calculate the momentum distributions of protons and neutrons in A = 3 and 4, d + p amplitudes in ³He, and t + p and d + d amplitudes in ⁴He nuclei, with improved variational wave functions. The nucleon and d + p momentum distributions in ³He are also calculated from a five-channel Faddeev wave function. The calculations are based on realistic hamiltonians that include the three-nucleon interaction, and give reasonable binding energies and densities for light nuclei and nuclear matter. The calculated proton and d + p momentum distributions in ³He at low k are in good agreement with the results obtained by the Saclay analysis of the electron scattering data in the plane-wave impulse approximation; however, at higher values of k, the calculated momentum distributions are larger. The calculated values of the asymptotic D- to S-wave ratio of the d+n and d+d amplitudes are also in agreement with the values obtained from (d, t) and (d, α) reactions. The number of deuterons is found to be 1.38 and ∼2.4 in A = 3 and 4 nuclei, while the number of tritons in ⁴He is ∼1.6. This large value of the triton number reflects the large contribution (more than 90% at small k) of the t+p state to the total proton momentum distribution in ⁴He.     

Quasifree proton scattering on halo nuclei as a tool for studying the neutron-halo structure

An experimental method is proposed for investigating the structure of the two-neutron halo in quasifree proton scattering on clusters of halo nuclei. This scattering process is studied in inverse kinematics by using a ⁶He beam incident to a stack of track emulsions. Preliminary data on the reaction ⁶He + p → ⁴He + p + X are compared with the results of simple kinematical calculations for quasifree proton scattering on the clusters forming the halo of the ⁶He nucleus.     

入射质子的能量对质子与晕核弹性散射观测量的影响

用相对论脉冲近似(RIA)对不同的中能质子(200MeV, 400MeV和800MeV)与¹⁴Be, ¹⁶O和¹²C的弹性散射进行了研究, 讨论了不同的入射能量对3种观测量, 即微分散射截面、分析本领和自旋转动函数的影响. 研究发现在小散射角的区域晕中子对观察量的影响趋势保持一致, 不随入射质子能量的改变而改变.     

Experimental studies of the nuclear spatial structure of neutron-rich He and Li isotopes

Results of several experiments aimed at exploring the nuclear spatial structure of neutron-rich He and Li isotopes are presented and briefly discussed. The study of the density distributions in these nuclei by small-angle proton elastic scattering at intermediate energy is considered in more detail. The performed investigations allow one to obtain information on the total matter distributions, radii of the matter, neutron and proton distributions, effective and internal core sizes, halo sizes, and spatial correlations of the halo nucleons in the studied nuclei. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Differential cross section,analyzing power and phase shifts for p-3He elastic scattering below 1.0 MeV

Differential cross sections and analyzing powers for the elastic scattering of polarized protons by unpolarized ³He nuclei have been measured at eight energies between 0.3 MeV and 1.0 MeV for scattering angles θ_c.m. = 52.4°–173.3°. The cross-section values were normalized to the Rutherford cross section for proton-krypton scattering. The analyzing powers have been measured with a statistical accuracy of about 0.001. The phase-shift analysis based on these data included all phases for orbital angular momenta l ≦ 1 and the channel-spin mixing parameter for the P waves. An energy parametrization of the phase shifts by an effective-range approximation allowed a simultaneous utilization of all data.     

Study on Charge Form Factors of the Exotic Nuclei 6,8He

Charge radius and charge form factors of different charge density distributions for ^6,8He are calculated with the relativistic Eikonal approximation. Detailed comparisons and discussions are presented. It is found that the charge form factors curves of ^6,8He are much lower than the experimental ones of ⁴He. This is, in principle, consistent with the experimental fact. Whereas detailed comparison among the charge form factors which correspond to different charge distributions show significant deviations. This indicates that the effects of the correlations between the halo neutrons and the α-core in ^6,8He with different charge density distributions are quite different. This result would provide a useful reference for the possible experiments on the next-generation electron-nucleus collider and for the tests of different theoretical models for the exotic nuclei ^6,8He.     

Relativistic mean-field study on proton skins and proton halos in exotic nuclei

We investigate the ground state properties of proton-rich nuclei in the framework of the relativistic mean-field model. Calculations show that the experimental proton halo in the nuclei ^26,27,28P can be reproduced by the model. The proton halos can appear in proton-rich nuclei because the total nuclear potential is attractive up to the radial distance r ≈ 5.5 fm. But the size of proton halos is finite due to the limitation of the Coulomb potential barrier. The mean-square radius of a halo proton is not very sensitive to the separation energy of the last proton in some very proton-rich nuclei due to the effect of the Coulomb barrier. This behavior is different from the case of a neutron halo where the mean-square radius of a halo neutron is inversely proportional to the separation energy of the last halo neutron. We have also analysed the differences of the relativistic mean-field potentials of ²⁵Al and ²⁶P and found that the isovector potential from the p meson has an important effect on the differences.     

Elastic and inelastic scattering of 270 MeV3He particles from58Ni,90Zr,116Sn and208Pb

Differential cross-section angular distributions for the elastic scattering of 270 MeV³He particles from⁵⁸Ni,⁹⁰Zr,¹¹⁶Sn and²⁰⁸Pb have been measured. Optical model analysis of the cross-sections has yielded the optical model parameters for³He particles at 270 MeV. Angular distributions have also been measured for the inelastic excitation of the low-lying levels in the above mentioned nuclei. A collective model analysis using the distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA) of these cross-sections with the distorted waves generated by the optical model parameters determined from the elastic scattering analysis, has yielded the reduced transition probability (B(EL)) values consistent with those reported in the literature.     

Elastic 3He scattering from even Ar isotopes and backward-angle anomalies in the systematics of elastic 3He scattering

Angular distributions have been measured for ³He elastic scattering from ^{36, 38, 40}Ar at 26.5 MeV and from ³⁶Ar and ⁴⁰Ca at energies between 24.5 and 28 MeV. This scattering clearly shows features of “anomalous” backward-angle scattering, which is discussed in the systematics of ³He scattering from heavier target nuclei. The data for “anomalous” scattering can be described by optical potentials which show features significantly different from those of “normal” scattering. These features are smaller radius parameters for the real optical potential and a strongly reduced volume integral for the imaginary potential.