Modern experiments with heavy ion-leptons collisions open the possibility to measure the deviation of a cross section of small angles electron(positron)-ion elastic scattering from the Rutherford formula due to multiple virtual photons exchange. The charge asymmetry and the polarization of the scattered leptons are calculated and numerical predictions are given. A generalization to elastic proton-nucleus scattering is discussed.

• Received 30 March 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.80.018201