  The semiclassical model of relativistic Coulomb excitation is studied in
situations in which the impact parameter is small enough so that projectile and
target charge distributions overlap. The electromagnetic effects of this
overlap are shown to be small. Realistic nucleon-nucleon reaction
cross-sections, and realistic nuclear radial charge and matter distributions
are used to determine a formula for the lower impact parameter limit to be used
in the calculation of the Coulomb excitation cross-section. A wide selection of
projectile-target pairs is explored, in the bombarding energy range of 1 GeV to
5 GeV per nucleon.
