A measure of adiabaticity for nuclear collective motion

We map the time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) motion onto a classical Hamilton dynamics and perform an adiabatic expansion of the hamiltonian up to second order in the collective momentum. Requiring decoupling of intrinsic from collective motion in the various orders of this expansion, we obtain the adiabatic time-dependent Hartree-Fock (ATDHF) equations for the optimal collective degree-of-freedom and a measure of the validity of the description in terms of collective motion. We evaluate this validity condition for the system 16O + 16O -> 32S and find that it is well fulfilled. (orig.)