An exclusive measurement has been made of the Coulomb dissociation of the two-neutron halo nucleus 11Li at 70 MeV/nucleon at RIKEN. Strong low-energy (soft) E1 excitation is observed, peaked at about Ex = 0.6 MeV with B(E1) = 1.42(18) e2fm2 for Erel < or = 3 MeV, which was largely missed in previous measurements. This excitation represents the strongest E1 transition ever observed at such low excitation energies. The spectrum is reproduced well by a three-body model with a strong two-neutron correlation, which is further supported by the E1 non-energy-weighted cluster sum rule.

The cross sections for single-neutron removal from the very neutron-rich nucleus 31Ne on Pb and C targets have been measured at 230 MeV/nucleon using the RIBF facility at RIKEN. The deduced large Coulomb breakup cross section of 540(70) mb is indicative of a soft E1 excitation. Comparison with direct-breakup model calculations suggests that the valence neutron of 31Ne occupies a low-l orbital (most probably 2p(3/2)) with a small separation energy (S(n) approximately < 0.8 MeV), instead of being predominantly in the 1f(7/2) orbital as expected from the conventional shell ordering. These findings suggest that 31Ne is the heaviest halo system known.

A new measurement of proton resonance scattering on 7 Be was performed up to the center-of-mass energy of 6.7 MeV using the low-energy RI beam facility CRIB (CNS Radioactive Ion Beam separator) at the Center for Nuclear Study of the University of Tokyo. The excitation function of 7 Be+p elastic scattering above 3.5 MeV was measured successfully for the first time, providing important information about the resonance structure of the 8 B nucleus. The resonances are related to the reaction rate of 7 Be(p,γ) 8 B, which is the key reaction in solar 8 B neutrino production. Evidence for the presence of two negative parity states is presented. One of them is a 2 − state observed as a broad s-wave resonance, the existence of which had been questionable. Its possible effects on the determination of the astrophysical S-factor of 7 Be(p,γ) 8 B at solar energy are discussed. The other state had not been observed in previous measurements, and its J π was determined as 1 − .