Radiative capture of protons is investigated as a probe of clustering in nuclei far from stability. The first such measurement on a halo nucleus is reported here for the reaction 6He(p,gamma) at 40 MeV. Capture into 7Li is observed as the strongest channel. In addition, events have been recorded that may be described by quasifree capture on a halo neutron, the alpha core, and 5He. The possibility of describing such events by capture into the continuum of 7Li is also discussed.

An atomic clock based on x-ray fluorescence yields has been used to estimate the mean characteristic time for fusion followed by fission in reactions 238U + 64Ni at 6.6  MeV/A. Inner shell vacancies are created during the collisions in the electronic structure of the possibly formed Z=120 compound nuclei. The filling of these vacancies accompanied by a x-ray emission with energies characteristic of Z=120 can take place only if the atomic transitions occur before nuclear fission. Therefore, the x-ray yield characteristic of the united atom with 120 protons is strongly related to the fission time and to the vacancy lifetimes. K x rays from the element with Z=120 have been unambiguously identified from a coupled analysis of the involved nuclear reaction mechanisms and of the measured photon spectra. A minimum mean fission time τ(f)=2.5×10(-18)  s has been deduced for Z=120 from the measured x-ray multiplicity.

We report on preliminary results from the experiment performed at Legnaro National Laboratories aiming at the investigation of the shape evolution of the 88 Mo nucleus. The GDR spectra obtained for two data sets measured at 48 Ti beam energy of 300 and 450 MeV corresponding to 3 and 3.8 MeV temperatures, respectively, are presented. The low energy component in GDR strength functions, similar to the theoretical predictions of LSD model, possibly indicates the presence of Jacobi shape transition.