Electroexcitation of giant multipole resonances in the dynamic collective theory

Abstract

In a previous paper the electroexcitation of various giant multipole resonances in heavy nuclei has been discussed in Born approximation. This has given only the qualitative features of the cross section, since the electron wave functions in heavy nuclei are considerably distorted by the nuclear charge. Therefore we derive in this paper the corresponding cross sections using a phase shift analysis for the electron wave functions. Moreover, the coupling between giant resonances and surface oscillations has been taken into account. This leads to transitions not only to the several giant resonances itself but also to their “satellites” (i.e. giant resonance plus surface oscillations). Since the giant resonances have rather large widths, the calculated differential cross sections have been folded using a Lorentz shape and plotted against excitation energy. It is shown that the quadrupole giant resonance levels should be observed very clearly at scattering angles of the electron of about 40° (primary energy of the electrons about 200 MeV). It seems, however, unlikely to observe the monopole giant resonance as a distinct peak of the electron cross section because of the relatively large damping to be expected.