Nuclear Halos

We show that extreme nuclear halos are caused only by pairs of s-wave neutrons (or single s-wave neutrons) and that such states occur much more frequently in the periodic table than previously believed. Besides lingering long near zero neutron separation energy such extreme halos have very remarkable properties: they can contribute significantly to the nuclear density at more than twice the normal nuclear radius and their spreading width can be very narrow. The properties of these states are primarily determined by the "thickness" of the nuclear surface in the mean-free nuclear potential and thus their importance increases greatly as we approach the neutron drip line. We discuss what such extreme halos are, where they occur, what their properties are and some of their impact on nuclear observations.