Charge exchange in relativistic heavy ion collisions

Abstract

Elastic charge-exchange in relativistic heavy ion collisions is responsible for the non-disruptive change of the charge state of the nuclei. We show that it can be reliably calculated within the eikonal approximation for the reaction part. The formalism is applied to the charge-pickup cross sections of 158 GeV/nucleon Pb projectiles on several targets. The relative contributions of pion- and rho-exchange are determined, using a single-particle model for the internal structure of the nuclei. The calculated cross sections are non-negligible for heavy targets. It is shown that these cross sections can be useful to obtain information on the Gamow-Teller transition strengths of the nuclei.