Recent developments in the eikonal description of the breakup of exotic nuclei

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in eikonal models for describing the breakup of exotic nuclei, compares methods like CDCC and DEA, and introduces a new observable for probing nuclear structure.

Contribution

It introduces a correction to eikonal models for low-energy reactions and proposes a new reaction observable based on angular distribution ratios.

Findings

Eikonal models face challenges at low energies.

A correction extends eikonal models to lower energies.

The angular distribution ratio is highly sensitive to projectile structure.

Abstract

The study of exotic nuclear structures, such as halo nuclei, is usually performed through nuclear reactions. An accurate reaction model coupled to a realistic description of the projectile is needed to correctly interpret experimental data. In this contribution, we briefly summarise the assumptions made within the modelling of reactions involving halo nuclei. We describe briefly the Continuum-Discretised Coupled Channel method (CDCC) and the Dynamical Eikonal Approximation (DEA) in particular and present a comparison between them for the breakup of 15C on Pb at 68AMeV. We show the problem faced by the models based on the eikonal approximation at low energy and detail a correction that enables their extension down to lower beam energies. A new reaction observable is also presented. It consists of the ratio between angular distributions for two different processes, such as elastic scattering and breakup. This ratio is completely independent of the reaction mechanism and hence is more sensitive to the projectile structure than usual reaction observables, which makes it a very powerful tool to study exotic structures far from stability.