Radiative Capture versus Coulomb Dissociation

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Measurements of the Coulomb dissociation of ⁸B have been used to infer the rate of the inverse radiative proton capture on ⁷Be. The analysis is usually based on the assumptions that the two processes are related by detailed balance and described by E1 transitions. However, there are corrections to this relation. The Coulomb form factors for the two processes, for example, are not identical. There are also E2 transitions and higher-order effects in the Coulomb dissociation, and the nuclear induced breakup cannot always be ignored. While adding first-order E2 transitions enhances the decay energy spectrum, the other mechanisms cause a suppression at low relative energies. The net result may accidentally be close to the conventional first-order E1 calculation, but there are differences which cannot be ignored if accuracies of 10% or better are needed. ©2006 American Institute of Physics