Electromagnetic excitation of one- and multiphonon giant resonance states with relativistic heavy ions

It is the aim of the present paper to show that, in addition to the central nuclear collisions, the distant collisions are also interesting. In chapter 2, a short description of the theoretical framework is given, quantal as well as semiclassical methods are discussed and compared with each other. In chapter 3, one- and multiphoton excitation of high lying collective states, mainly of the giant dipole resonance (GDR), is studied. RHI's seem to be a unique tool to investigate multiphoton processes with high energy (tens of MeV) equivalent photons. The investigation of multiphonon GDR states is of special interest. The possibilities of experimental investigation of these new states are discussed. In chapter 5, we discuss lepton (mainly electron) pair production. This process can also be viewed as an interaction of two equivalent photons. We further discuss the possibility to investigate γ-γ collisions, especially in the MeV range, with RHI's. Conclusions and an outlook are given in chapter 6. (orig./HSI)