Two-particle transfer contributions to elastic and inelastic heavy ion scattering

The contributions of two-particle transfer to elastic and inelastic scattering of heavy ions are treated simultaneously in the coupled channels framework using microscopic transfer form factors. As an example, the reaction ¹⁸O(¹⁶O, ¹⁶O)¹⁸O(g.s. and 2₁⁺) is investigated at three energies near the Coulomb barrier. The interference between scattering and transfer leads to a consistent interpretation of both elastic and inelastic data. Indirect transfer contributions give relatively small, but non-negligible corrections to the direct scattering plus transfer result, removing a previously reported energy dependence of the spectroscopic factor.