Nuclear Halos and Borromeans in the Primordial Nucleosynthesis Process and in Astrophysical Nuclear Reactions

Abstract

Nuclear halo structures and Borromean nuclei have been intensely studied almost two decades. They have a cloud of neutrons and protons extended well beyond the surface of tightly bound core of neutrons and protons which is classically forbidden. Since the extended tail of the valance neutron wave‐function of the neutron halos the cross‐sections are much larger and their sizes become substantially much larger than the ordinary nuclei. Inferred expectations of halo and Borroeman nuclei in astrophysics due to their novel structures have been suggested to influence the astrophysical reactions, especially in the primordial furnace during the Standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (SBBN) process. It is seen that the large spatial extension directly implies that both elastic and absorption cross‐sections are large for the reactions involving halo nuclei. The Trojan Horse Method (THM) and the Distorted Wave Born Approximation (DWBA) reaction cross‐sections calculations are discussed for low energies.