Nuclear structure at the drip lines

This paper gives examples of gross nuclear structure and properties across the nuclear chart and especially near the drip lines for protons and neutrons. New measurements of spins and transition multipolarities in beta decay could greatly enhance our understanding in a number of ways, for example by providing a more quantitative understanding of isospin mixing. The neutron-rich nuclei show novel structural features near the neutron drip line, where the combined effect of low neutron binding and the short range of the nuclear forces leads to the appearance of a neutron distribution extending far beyond the nuclear core (a “halo”). With this is associated a soft electric dipole mode that leads to large cross-sections for Coulomb dissociation and to short E` lifetimes.