Project A05: Halos and clustering in nuclei

Project A05 will explore the nature of cluster degrees of freedom in exotic nuclei through reactions and their theoretical description using halo effective field theory as well as the properties of few-neutron systems. We will investigate the neutron-neutron scattering length in a combined effort of theory and experiment using knock-out reactions on 6He and the triton in quasi-free kinematics. Moreover, we will extend successful earlier work on precise calculations of nuclear reactions by combining a halo effective field theory description of the projectile with sophisticated methods for calculating nuclear breakup reactions to include excited states of the core and three-body forces.