Calculations of reaction cross sections for C at relativistic energies

Few-body Glauber theory calculations of reaction cross sections for the proposed single neutron halo nucleus C are presented for an incident energy of 960 MeV/nucleon on a C target. The calculated reaction cross sections are shown to be significantly smaller than those obtained using the optical limit approximation to the Glauber theory elastic profile function. The implications of these differences upon the deduced size and structure of the extended C ground state, from newly reported interaction cross-section measurements, are discussed, including the sensitivity of the cross sections to the assumed C single neutron separation energy. @S0556-2813~99!50101-5#