Two-nucleon transfer reactions in deformed nuclei using very heavy ions

Semiclassical methods found to be highly accurate for inelastic scattering are applied to the calculation of rotational population signatures in heavy-ion two-neutron transfer reactions involving highly deformed targets. Basic features to be expected for such reactions are predicted, and are shown to have straightforward semiclassical interpretations. The rotational population signatures for 2-neutron transfer are shown to be quite different from those expected for the analogous inelastic scattering case. Several calculations are shown for Xe projectiles on rare-earth targets, and it is demonstrated that such reactions can provide a unique probe of nuclear structure in high angular momentum states. The extension of the general ideas employed here to 1-nucleon transfer in deformed nuclei and to several other examples of transfer to highly collective states in deformed and vibrational nuclei using very heavy ions is briefly considered. Experimental possibilities are discussed, and it is concluded that relevant experiments in this virtually unexplored area are possible using sophisticated particle-γ spectroscopic techniques.