The transfer reaction Be-7(d,n)B-8 is modeled for the recent low experiment
al energies using the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA). Tests of th
e validity of the asymptotic normalization constant method for the extracti
on of the S-17 astrophysical factor are performed. We show that a periphera
l assumption is no longer accurate for center-of-mass energies greater than
approximately 15 MeV. In all cases we found that core deformation and/or e
xcitation effects to be small as long as the optical potential for the entr
ance channel is not strongly surface peaked. Multistep corrections to the D
WBA were found to be small. We also emphasize that the lack of knowledge of
the optical potentials for the entrance and outgoing channels induces seve
re uncertainties in the extracted S-17 astrophysical factor. [S0556-2813(99
)04704-4].