E2 COMPONENT IN SUBCOULOMB BREAKUP OF B-8

We calculate the angular distribution and total cross section of the B e-7 fragment emitted in the break up reaction of B-8 on Ni-58 and Pb-2 08 targets at the subcoulomb beam energy of 25.8 MeV, within the non-r elativistic theory of Coulomb excitation with proper three-body kinema tics. The relative contributions of the E1, E2 and M1 multipolarities to the cross sections are determined. The E2 component makes up about 65% and 40% of the Be-7 total cross section for the Ni-58 and Pb-208 t argets respectively. We find that the extraction of the astrophysical S-factor, S-17(0), for the Be-7(p,gamma)B-8 reaction at solar energies from the measurements of the cross sections of the Be-7 fragment in t he Coulomb dissociation of B-8 at sub-Coulomb energies is still not fr ee from the uncertainties of the E2 component. (C) 1997 Published by E lsevier Science B.V.