  We study low-lying multipole strength in neutron-halo nuclei. The strength
depends only on a few low-energy constants: the neutron separation energy, the
asymptotic normalization coefficient of the bound state wave function, and the
scattering length that contains the information on the interaction in the
continuum. The shape of the transition probability shows a characteristic
dependence on few scaling parameters and the angular momenta. The total E1
strength is related to the root-mean-square radius of the neutron wave function
in the ground state and shows corresponding scaling properties. We apply our
approach to the E1 strength distribution of 11Be.
