A dynamic polarization potential for heavy-ion scattering

The effects of target and/or projectile excitation on the elastic scattering of heavy ions are studied. The results are cast in the form of contributions to both the real and imaginary parts of the ion-ion optical potential. In particular, a trivially “equivalent” local potential (TELP) is found to simulate the effects of coupling to one or more open channels. Particular application is made to the dynamic polarization resulting from the long-range Coulomb potential. Comparison with coupled-channel calculations shows that the TELP can accurately reproduce these effects of Coulomb excitation. The correction to the absorptive potential is found to be much larger than that for the real potential. This correction is long-ranged and cannot be simulated by any reasonable adjustment of the usual Woods-Saxon form of potential. The TELP provides an alternative to performing coupled-channels calculations and may be particularly useful when reactions other than inelastic scattering are to be studied.