PROJECTILE BREAKUP BY NUCLEAR AND COULOMB FIELDS AND APPLICATION TO ASTROPHYSICALLY RELEVANT RADIATIVE-CAPTURE PROCESSES

The interplay of nuclear and Coulomb contributions to breakup processes is studied theoretically. This is especially relevant for the extraction of astrophysical S factors for radiative-capture reactions. We study explicitly the breakup of Li-6 and Li-7 projectiles. Results of our calculations are in good agreement with recent experimental data. The different behavior of the nuclear and Coulomb amplitudes as a function of angle and energy helps to separate them from each other. This is vital for reliable extraction of astrophysical S factors of radiative-capture processes from breakup experiments.