Surrogate Reaction Method for Neutron Capture and Other Reactions on Unstable Isotopes

Recently, it was demonstrated that the surrogate reaction method is a viable indirect approach for determining neutron capture cross sections for unstable isotopes. Key to the successful application of the method is a proper theoretical description of the compound nucleus in the surrogate reaction. We review recent progress in this area and discuss the procedure for obtaining the cross sections of interest, with particular emphasis on the (p,d) surrogate reaction. The approach makes no use of auxiliary constraining quantities, such as neutron resonance data, or average radiative widths, which are not available for short-lived isotopes; hence, it can be applied to isotopes away from stability.