Nuclear shapes from heavy ion inelastic scattering

Earlier inelastic scattering experiments at energies above the Coulomb barrier have shown that angular distributions for the ground state and strongly coupled excited states can provide an accurate determination of a number of nuclear deformation parameters. An inelastic scattering experiment of /sup 24/Mg on /sup 208/Pb indicates that indeed this is a viable technique. 8 refs., 2 figs., 2 tabs.