Exploring the Structure of the Most Neutron-rich Boron and Carbon Isotopes
Résumé
The most neutron-rich isotopes of boron and carbon are of considerable interest in terms of their few-body character - most notably through the possible formation of twoneutron haloes in the Borromean nuclei ^19B and ^22C. Here a series of recent investigations are briefly reviewed, including preliminary results from reaction studies of ^18B and ^21C. It is concluded that ^22C exhibits a prominent halo arising from a significantnu2S_1/2^2 valence neutron configuration. More generally, the structure of the dripline boron and carbon nuclei appears to be governed by the competition between the nu1d_5/2 and nu2s_1/2 single-particle orbitals, with a 5/2^+ - 1/2^+ level inversion very probably occuring in ^21C.