  The interplay of nuclear and Coulomb processes in the inelastic excitation of
single- and double-phonon giant resonances in heavy ion collisions is studied
within a simple reaction model. Predominance of the Coulomb excitation
mechanism on the population of the single-phonon and, on the contrary,
predominance of the nuclear excitation for the double-phonon is evidenced. The
effect of the spreading of the strength distribution of the giant resonances on
the excitation process is analyzed, showing sizeable modifications in the case
of Coulomb dominated processes.
