Abstract
A test has been devised to check the validity of conventional distorted-wave impulse approximation (DWIA) treatment of knockout reactions. The conventional DWIA formalism separates the three-body final state Schrödinger equation for a knockout reaction into two two-body Schrödinger equations by assuming an asymptotic constant value for the three-body coupling term commonly known as the kinematic coupling approximation (KCA). In the test case, which consists of an extreme asymmetric situation where one of the distorting optical potentials is assumed to vanish, the three-body final state Schrödinger equation can be solved exactly as a product of two two-body solutions using one particular set of relative coordinates. Large influence of the three-body coupling term is seen in the comparison of the exact and KCA results for (α,2α) and (p,pα) knockout reactions when the distorting optical potentials are weakly absorbing.
- Received 30 January 1990
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.42.368
©1990 American Physical Society