We propose a procedure to extract the probability for a valence particle being out of the binding potential from the measured nuclear asymptotic normalization coefficients. With this procedure, available data regarding the nuclear halo candidates are systematically analyzed and a number of halo nuclei are confirmed. Based on these results: we obtain a very relaxed condition for nuclear halo occurrence. Furthermore, we present the scaling laws for the dimensionless quantity $〈r^2〉{/R}^2$ of the nuclear halo in terms of the analytical expressions of the expectation value for the operator $r^2$ in a finite square-well potential.

• Received 15 April 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.68.024305