Important pickup coupling effect on He8(p,p) elastic scattering

The He8(p,p) and (p,d) reactions were measured in inverse kinematics at 15.7AMeV and analyzed within the coupled reaction channels framework, the (p,d) cross section being particularly large. We find that coupling to He8(p,d) pickup has a profound effect on the He8(p,p) elastic scattering, and that these strong coupling effects should be included in analyses of proton elastic and inelastic scattering. Through its modification of the elastic scattering wave functions this coupling will strongly affect the extraction of spectroscopic information such as the relationship between neutron and proton nuclear deformations, with important consequences for our understanding of the structure of exotic nuclei.