Direct evidence for the onset of intruder configurations in neutron-rich Ne isotopes

We report on direct experimental evidence of the population of the 3/2− intruder state in 27Ne in the knockout of a single neutron from the ground state of 28Ne. This low-lying negative parity state is consistent with a narrower shell gap for exotic nuclei with Z≪N and N≈20. Monte Carlo shell-model calculations with the modern SDPF-M interaction successfully describe neutron-rich nuclei in the vicinity of N=20 where normal and intruder configurations coexist at low excitation energy. This observation demonstrates the importance of direct reactions for the study of exotic nuclei and the predictive power of these large-scale shell-model calculations.