Quenching of $1^+$ excitations in the double giant resonance

Abstract

The electromagnetic excitation of the two-phonon isovector giant dipole resonance in relativistic projectiles incident on heavy targets can be proceed via several intermediate $1^-$ one-phonon giant resonance states. In two step electric dipole transitions the population of $0^+$, $1^+$, and $2^+ $ two-phonon states are possible. We calculate the amplitude distribution of $1^-$ excitations with an RPA formalism, and use it to calculate the electromagnetic excitation of two-phonon states in second order perturbation theory and coupled-channels. We show that a conspiracy between angular momentum coupling and the strength of the electromagnetic fields suppresses contributions of $1^+$ states to the total cross sections.