Eur. Phys. J. A (2008) 38: 355-361
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2008-10684-4

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Scaling laws and higher-order effects in Coulomb excitation of neutron halo nuclei

¹ Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstraße 2, D-85748, Garching, Germany
² GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Planckstraße 1, D-64291, Darmstadt, Germany
³ Institut für Kernphysik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425, Jülich, Germany
⁴ Jülich Centre for Hadron Physics, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425, Jülich, Germany

^* e-mail: g.baur@fz-juelich.de

Received: 26 August 2008
Revised: 6 November 2008
Accepted: 6 November 2008
Published online: 24 November 2008

Abstract

Essential properties of halo nuclei can be described in terms of a few low-energy constants. For neutron halo nuclei, analytical results can be found for wave functions and electromagnetic transition matrix elements in simple but well-adapted models. These wave functions can be used to study nuclear reactions; an especially simple and instructive example is Coulomb excitation. A systematic expansion in terms of small parameters can be given. We present scaling laws for excitation amplitudes and cross-sections. The results can be used to analyze experiments like ¹¹Be Coulomb excitation. They also serve as benchmark tests for more involved reaction theories.