Improved deuteron elastic breakup energy dependence via the continuum-discretized coupled-channels method

Experimental elastic-scattering angular distributions for deuteron interaction with Cu-63 and Nb-93 targets are compared with calculations performed within the continuum-discretized coupled-channels (CDCC) method, in which coupling to breakup channels is explicitly taken into account. The calculated elastic breakup cross sections are compared with the predictions of an empirical parametrization for a wide range of deuteron incident energies. The good agreement between the calculations and the systematics at the energies where data are available indicates that the CDCC method permits a useful assessment of empirical parametrizations and provides useful guidance for the extrapolation of these parametrizations beyond the energies formerly considered.