Reaction mechanisms in the scattering of exotic nuclei

Abstract

This paper describes the evolution of our understanding of the reaction mechanisms involved in the scattering of exotic nuclei starting from the first measurements of reaction cross sections in the 1980s up to the most recent and advanced exclusive experiments for dripline unbound nuclei. We shall mainly cover nuclear and Coulomb breakup reactions, elastic scattering and total reaction cross sections measurements. Some open problems like kinematical effects on core parallel momentum distributions, the existence of a proton halo, the determination of the ground state of unbound nuclei such as 13Be, will be discussed in detail. A general framework for the reaction theory will be used, based on a time dependent perturbation theory approach and when suitable on its eikonal limit. © 2013 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.