Analysis of Angular Distributions of Heavy-ion Inelastic Collisions

Abstract

The relative contributions of nuclear and Coulomb excitation to inelastic collisions of heavy ions are examined, and it is shown how to distinguish their effects on the angular distribution. From the experimental distributions for Coulomb excitation it is possible to make an estimate of the effective range of the Coulomb interaction in the collision. The distributions for nuclear excitation are analysed in the same way as in our previous work on transfer reactions, and give very similar results for the greater nuclear penetration in such collisions as compared with elastic collisions.