Break-up reactions: theoretical aspects

Breakup reactions are one of the main tools for the study of exotic nuclei. In particular, Coulomb breakup is expected to provide information on spectroscopic properties of halo nuclei and on astrophysical S factors for radiative-capture reactions. The simplest studies are based on perturbation theory and especially on its first order. However the validity of the first-order approximation may be limited for extended systems such as halo nuclei and its conditions are not always satisfied in existing experiments. More elaborate reaction models are available: resolution of the semi-classical time-dependent Schroedinger equation, eikonal and dynamical eikonal approximations, method of coupled discretized-continuum channels (CDCC). These methods are reviewed and summarized. Their interest and limitations are discussed. The Be11 and B8 breakups are treated as examples of the various approximations. (author)