DYNAMICS OF COULOMB DISSOCIATION IN RELATIVISTIC MEAN-FIELD THEORY

Time-dependent relativistic mean field theory is used to describe the dynamics of Coulomb excitations of nuclei. As an example we consider t he nucleus O-16. At small incident energies of the projectile we obser ve isovector dipole oscillations that correspond to the giant dipole r esonance. With increasing excitation energy, the motion becomes increa singly anharmonic, and finally a full dissociation of O-16 into proton and neutron clusters is observed.