Small effects in sub-barrier heavy-ion elastic scattering

Abstract
The effects of virtual Coulomb excitation of giant multipole resonances as well as of relativity on sub-barrier elastic scattering of heavy ions are investigated. Closed expressions for the effect of giant quadrupole and octopole excitation from the adiabatic polarization potential, on the elastic scattering differential cross section, are derived. Comparison with optical model and coupled channels calculations is reported. The effect of special relativity on the Rutherford cross section is also described in a closed form.