Angular correlations in peripheral fragmentation of halo nuclei

The angular correlation between momenta of ⁵He and its decay products has been calculated for the peripheral fragmentation of ⁶He using a two-step model in a sudden approximation: (1) One neutron knock-out leading to the unbound nucleus ⁵He. (2) Subsequent decay of ⁵He undisturbed by the target in an α-particle and a neutron. Angular correlations measured in a recent experiment dealing with the peripheral fragmentation of 240 MeV/u ⁶He on a carbon target can be well described by a dominant ⁵He 3/2^? ground state configuration plus a small admixture of ≈ 7% of the first excited 1/2^? state. The influence of an s-state admixture as well as a contribution of the momentum transfer to the correlation function are investigated. The results obtained for ⁶He are then used as a touch stone for a discussion of the methods to investigate peripheral fragmentation of other Borromean halo nuclei like ¹¹Li and ¹⁴Be. It is shown that the evidence on the possible existence of low-lying s-states in ¹⁰Li and ¹³Be can be derived from the corresponding angular correlations.