On the validity of Glauber theory

The remarkable success of Glauber theory, had been attributed by Harrington to the cancellations in the multiple scattering series. Later, Pauli and Tobocmann, refuting Harrington, had suggested that the success of Glauber theory is due to the damping of the terms neglected in Glauber series. The damping has brought about the 'Adiabatic approximation'. It is shown here that the cancellations proposed by Harrington do not take place while one considers exact amplitudes and that, in general 'Adiabatic approximation' is not responsible for the success of Glauber theory. It is proposed that the validity of Glauber theory is dependent on the binding energy of the nucleus. It is also shown that for loosely bound nuclei (such as deuteron) Glauber theory should be a very good approximation. The validity of the theory in the resonance region is also discussed. (K.B.)