Three-body description of direct nuclear reactions: Comparison with the continuum discretized coupled channels method

The continuum discretized coupled channels (CDCC) method is compared with the exact solution of the three-body Faddeev equations in momentum space. We present results for (i) elastic and breakup observables of d + C-12 at E-d = 56 MeV, (ii) elastic scattering of d + Ni-58 at E-d = 80 MeV, and (iii) elastic, breakup, and transfer observables for Be-11 + p at (EBe)-Be-11/A=38.4 MeV. Our comparative studies show that in the first two cases, the CDCC method is a good approximation of the full three-body Faddeev solution, but for the Be-11 exotic nucleus, depending on the observable or the kinematic regime, it may miss some of the dynamic three-body effects that appear through the explicit coupling to the transfer channel.