The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the highenergy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a threedimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.

Collisions induced by 9;10;11 Be on a 64 Zn target at the same c.m. energy were studied. For the first time, strong effects of the 11 Be halo structure on elastic-scattering and reaction mechanisms at energies near the Coulomb barrier are evidenced experimentally. The elastic-scattering cross section of the 11 Be halo nucleus shows unusual behavior in the Coulomb-nuclear interference peak angular region. The extracted total-reaction cross section for the 11 Be collision is more than double the ones measured in the collisions induced by 9;10 Be. It is shown that such a strong enhancement of the total-reaction cross section with 11 Be is due to transfer and breakup processes. A hundred years after Rutherford's scattering experiment [1], heavy-ion-elastic-scattering angular distributions (AD) are usually plotted as a ratio of the Rutherford cross section (i.e., pure Coulomb scattering). Such representation usually shows a decrease of the elastic cross section with the angle due to absorption at small impact parameters by nonelastic processes, and an oscillatory behavior. The latter, using the language of optics, is described in terms of refraction by nonabsorbing lenses (Coulomb rainbow model) or diffraction by sharp-edged, nonrefracting apertures (Fraunhofer or Fresnel diffraction model). However, the refraction or diffraction descriptions are oversimplifications of the realistic process; rather, the nucleus behaves as a ''cloudy crystal ball.'' The elasticscattering AD may show a peak resulting from the interference between the Coulomb and nuclear amplitudes (Coulomb-nuclear interference peak) [2], which, in analogy with the Coulomb rainbow model, is sometimes called the rainbow peak. Since elastic scattering is a peripheral process, it does not give information on the interior region of nuclei. It probes the tail of the wave function, and hence one can learn about surface properties, such as size of nuclei and surface diffuseness. Therefore, elastic scattering is an ideal tool to study peculiar nuclear structures as, for example, the nuclear halo. Such structure originates when very weakly bound nucleon(s) can tunnel into the classically forbidden region, giving rise to a diffuse tail surrounding a well-bound core. The behavior of the system in nuclear reactions is mostly determined by the tail of the wave function [3]. The reaction mechanisms may also be affected by the weak binding: at energies around the Coulomb barrier, couplings between the entrance channel and the continuum [4][5][6][7][8], as well as to the various reaction channels [9][10][11][12], are expected to be very important. Direct reactions, such as breakup or transfer, may be favored owing to the low binding energy, the extended tail of halo nuclei, and the large Q values for selected transfer channels.Almost all elastic-scattering and reaction mechanism studies around the barrier with halo nuclei have been performed with the 2n halo nucleus 6 He. All authors agree that, due to the 6 He structure, one has an enhancement of the total-reaction (T...

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Proton elastic scattering and inelastic scattering to the first excited state of 6 He have been measured over a wide angular range using a 40.9A MeV 6 He beam. The data have been analyzed with a fully microscopic model of proton-nucleus scattering using 6 He wave functions generated from large space shell model calculations. The inelastic scattering data show a remarkable sensitivity to the halo structure of 6 He. PACS number(s): 25.40.Cm, 25.40.Ep, 24.10.Ht Typeset using REVT E X * present address:INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud,

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