Neutron Halo Structure Probed by Breakup Reactions

The neutron drip line represents the boundary of nuclei in the neutron-rich side of the nuclear chart. In the vicinity of the neutron drip line, we often observe 'neutron halo' structure. We discuss how the neutron halo nuclei are studied by the breakup reactions at relativistic energies. Coulomb breakup is the dominant process in the breakup with a heavy target, such as Pb. In the Coulomb breakup of halo nuclei, enhancement of the electric dipole strength at low excitation energies (soft E1 excitation) is observed as a unique property for halo nuclei. The mechanism of the soft E1 excitation and its spectroscopic significance is shown as well as the applications of the Coulomb breakup to the very neutron rich ²²C and ³¹Ne, which was measured at 230-240 MeV/nucleon at the new-generation RI beam facility, RIBF(RI Beam Factory), at RIKEN. Evidence of halo structures for these nuclei is provided as enhancement of the inclusive Coulomb breakup, which is a useful tool for the low-intense secondary beam. We also show that the breakup with a light target (C target), where nuclear breakup is a dominant process, can be used to extract the spectroscopic information of the removed neutron. The combinatorial analysis was found very useful to extract more-detailed information such as the spectroscopic factor and the separation energy. Prospects of the breakup reactions on neutron-drip line nuclei at RIBF at RIKEN are also briefly presented.