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Dipole strength distributions measured in unstable neutron-rich nuclei in the Sn-132 mass region by utilizing relativistic Coulomb excitation of radioactive beams reveal a sizable fraction of "pygmy" strength below the giant dipole resonance. On the grounds of the RQRPA model, a strong linear correlation between the pygmy strength, parameters of the nuclear symmetry energy and the neutron skin thickness has been found. From the experimentally observed low-lying strength, the symmetry energy pressure p(0) = 2.3 +/- 0.8 MeV/fm(3) and neutron skin thicknesses of 0.23 +/- 0.04 fm Sn-130 and 0.24 +/- 0.04 fm Sn-130 have been extracted.

This work contains overview of recent progress in studies of pygmy dipole strength and neutron skins in exotic nuclei.

This paper summarizes the yields and the emission patterns of K+ and of K− mesons measured in inclusive C+C, Ni+Ni and Au+Au collisions at incident energies from 0.6 A GeV to 2.0 A GeV using the Kaon Spectrometer KaoS at GSI. For Ni+Ni collisions at 1.5 and at 1.93 A GeV as well as for Au+Au at 1.5 A GeV detailed results of the multiplicities, of the inverse slope parameters of the energy distributions and of the anisotropies in the angular emission patterns as a function of the collision centrality are presented. When comparing transport-model calculations to the measured K+ production yields an agreement is only obtained for a soft nuclear equation of state (compression modulus KN ~ 200 MeV). The production of K− mesons at energies around 1 to 2 A GeV is dominated by the strangeness-exchange reaction K−N pi Y (Y = Lambda, Sigma) which leads to a coupling between the K− and the K+ yields. However, both particle species show distinct differences in their emission patterns suggesting different freeze-out conditions for K+ and for K− mesons.

This paper summarizes the yields and the emission patterns of K+ and of K- mesons measured in inclusive C+C, Ni+Ni and Au+Au collisions at incident energies from 0.6 AGeV to 2.0 AGeV using the Kaon Spectrometer KaoS at GSI. For Ni+Ni collisions at 1.5 and at 1.93 AGeV as well as for Au+Au at 1.5 AGeV detailed results of the multiplicities, of the inverse slope parameters of the energy distributions and of the anisotropies in the angular emission patterns as a function of the collision centrality are presented. When comparing transport-model calculations to the measured K+ production yields an agreement is only obtained for a soft nuclear equation of state (compression modulus KN ~ 200 MeV). The production of K- mesons at energies around 1 to 2 AGeV is dominated by the strangeness-exchange reaction K- N pi Y (Y = Lambda, Sigma) which leads to a coupling between the K- and the K+ yields. However, both particle species show distinct differences in their emission patterns suggesting different freeze-out conditions for K+ and for K- mesons., Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C 22 pages, 26 figures

Differential production cross sections of $K^{\pm}$ mesons have been measured in $p$ + C and $p$ + Au collisions at 1.6, 2.5 and 3.5 GeV proton beam energy. At beam energies close to the production threshold, the $K^-$ multiplicity is strongly enhanced with respect to proton-proton collisions. According to microscopic transport calculations, this enhancement is caused by two effects: the strangeness exchange reaction $NY \to K^- NN$ and an attractive in-medium $K^-N$ potential at saturation density., Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

The production and propagation of kaons and antikaons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions have been systematically investigated with the Kaon spectrometer at SIS/GSI. Experimental results on the K+ and K- yiels and on the azimuthal emission pattern of K+ mesons are presented. Within the framework of transport models the data can be explained assuming in-medium kaon-nucleon potentials. The comparison of K+production excitation functions obtained for Au+Au and C+C collisions with results of transport model calculations favours a soft nuclear equation-of-state.

The production of kaons and antikaons in nucleus-nucleus collisions has been studied with the kaon spectrometer at SIS/GSI. The K-/K+ ration was measured in C+C, Ni+Ni, Au+Au collisions at 1.5 AGeV and was found to be almost independent of the system size. In Ni+Ni collisions at 1.93 AGeV we measured the phase-space distributions of K- and K+ mesons. Within the framework of transport models, the measured K+ and K- yields can only be explained if in-medium modifications of the K meson masses are assumed. In Au-Au collisions at 1 AGeV, we observe non-vanishing elliptic flow near mid-rapidity and in-plane flow at target rapidity for K+ mesons. This effect can be explained by transport models when a repulsive in-medium K+ N potential is taken into account. The ratio of the K+ meson excitation functions for Au+Au and C+C collisions increases with decreasing beam energies. This effect is expected for a soft nuclear equation of state.

Production cross sections of charged pions, kaons and antikaons have been measured in C+C and C+Au collisions at beam energies of 1.0 and 1.8 AGeV for different polar emission angles. The kaon and antikaon energy spectra can be described by Boltzmann distributions whereas the pion spectra exhibit an additional enhancement at low energies. The pion multiplicity per participating nucleon M(pi+)/A_part is a factor of about 3 smaller in C+Au than in C+C collisions at 1.0 AGeV whereas it differs only little for the C and the Au target at a beam energy of 1.8 AGeV. The K+ multiplicities per participating nucleon M(K+)/A_part are independent of the target size at 1 AGeV and at 1.8 AGeV. The K- multiplicity per participating nucleon M(K-)/A_part is reduced by a factor of about 2 in C+Au as compared to C+C collisions at 1.8 AGeV. This effect might be caused by the absorption of antikaons in the heavy target nucleus. Transport model calculations underestimate the K-/K+ ratio for C+C collisions at 1.8 AGeV by a factor of about 4 if in-medium modifications of K mesons are neglected.

We have measured the Coulomb dissociation of 8B into 7Be and proton at 254 MeV/nucleon using a large-acceptance focusing spectrometer. The astrophysical S17 factor for the 7Be(p,gamma)8B reaction at E{c.m.} = 0.25-2.78 MeV is deduced yielding S17(0)=20.6 \pm 1.2 (exp.) \pm 1.0 (theo.) eV-b. This result agrees with the presently adopted zero-energy S17 factor obtained in direct-reaction measurements and with the results of other Coulomb-dissociation studies performed at 46.5 and 51.2 MeV/nucleon., Comment: paper to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 3 figures. New Version fixes formatting problems with the figures only. There are no other changes