Large-angle scattering of heavy ions: (II). General structure of inelastic cross section

Closed-form expressions are derived for the differential cross section of inelastic heavy-ion scattering at large angles. The inelastic transition amplitude given by the distorted-waves theory for excitation of low-lying collective states is evaluated by an extension of analytic methods developed in the preceding paper for elastic large-angle scattering. The very close relation between the inelastic and elastic cross sections is displayed. In particular it is shown that the angular distributions have a universal form, and that the backward-angle inelastic excitation function has, aside from a slowly varying overall energy dependence, an oscillatory gross structure of diffractive origin which is nearly identical to that of the elastic excitation function, irrespective of the physical mechanism involved.