Abstract
Theory is developed for the electromagnetic scattering of nuclei or 'Coulomb excitation' as it is generally known. We derive explicit semiclassical expressions for the differential cross section and tensor analysing powers for elastic, inelastic and quasielastic scattering. These expressions are first order in 1/n, the expansion parameter associated with the semiclassical approximation, and second order in the strength of the non-central part of the electric interaction of the collision partners. The final results are essentially products of electric multipole matrix elements with derivatives, of standard orbit integrals, w.r.t. the scattering angle. These results constitute a new development. In the first place we use a recent formalism which treats the relative motion of the colliding nuclei semiclassically and their excitation quantum mechanically whilst systematically allowing for the interplay between the two degrees of freedom. This provides a firm theoretical basis for our work. Further, the new results are more general than previous efforts on two counts: (i) Expressions are given for all components of the tensor analysing powers of any given rank. (ii) No assumption is made about the energy of intermediate states in two step excitations. The results are found to be equivalent, for certain specific cases, to previous semiclassical calculations of Coulomb scattering observables.