Deformed nuclear halos

Abstract

Deformation properties of weakly bound nuclei are discussed in the deformed single-particle model. It is demonstrated that in the limit of a very small binding energy the valence particles in specific orbitals, characterized by a very small projection of single-particle angular momentum onto the symmetry axis of a nucleus, can give rise to the halo structure which is completely decoupled from the rest of the system. The quadrupole deformation of the resulting halo is completely determined by the intrinsic structure of a weakly bound orbital, irrespective of the shape of the core.