CHAOTIC MOTION AT THE NUCLEAR COULOMB BARRIER - A QUANTAL ANALYSIS

The coupling between relative motion and intrinsic surface vibrations in nuclear collisions introduces - at the classical level - a transition between ordered and disordered motion. Chaotic features set in near the Coulomb and centrifugal barriers in situations of weak absorption. We investigate here the solutions of the corresponding quantum scattering problem. The aim of this study is to identify possible manifestations of the underlying irregular structure in actual observables. To this end the correspondence between quantal wavefunctions and classical trajectories in phase space is explored.