Proton scattering from halo nuclei 6He and 11Li in BHF

Reactions of unstable neutron-rich nuclei with a proton (hydrogen) target is a field of current interest as in the absence of electron scattering it is the only means to probe the matter and/or neutron distribution of exotic nuclei. One of the most exciting events in nuclear physics of recent years was the discovery of halo nuclei (11Li the most celebrated example) having large extended neutron distribution. A nuclear halo is a structure with dilute matter distribution far beyond the core of the nucleus. The neutron rich 6He nucleus is one of the typical nuclides with an extended neutron distribution. Since the extended neutron distribution is prominent at the nuclear surface and the spin-orbit coupling is, in nature, a surface phenomenon, it would be interesting to see how the extended neutron distributions affect the spin asymmetry (i.e., vector analyzing power) in proton elastic scattering. The results of differential cross section and analyzing power for the p-6He and p-11Li elastic scattering at 60 MeV/nucleon have been reported