We investigate, within the context of diffractive collision theory, the elastic and inelastic scattering of high-energy particles by permanently deformed, axially symmetric nuclei. The nuclear matter density and optical potential are expanded into multipole contributions of order L=0,2,4. . . . We first consider the dominant multipoles L=0 and 2 alone, and determine for this model the scattering amplitude for excitation of a nuclear rotational state with quantum numbers L and M. We then discuss a procedure that permits us to account, by series expansion, for the higher order multipole deformations L=4,6,. . . . The convergence of the method is discussed in connection with explicit numerical examples and various differential cross sections are presented.

• Received 2 August 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.42.395