Deuteron stripping as a probe of the proton halo in F-17

The deuteron stripping reactions are presented as a method of determining p article distribution within possible halo nuclei. Distributions of the last proton in F-17 and the last neutron in O-17 are extracted from a compariso n of experimental and theoretical reaction cross sections. It is found that the first excited state of F-17 is a proton halo state and that the halo b ehavior can be explained purely in terms of binding-energy effects. [S0556- 2813(99)04802-5].