The ^ { 7 } Be ( p, \gamma ) ^ { 8 } B reaction is one of the major source of uncertainties in estimating the ^ { 8 } B solar neutrino flux and is critical for undertsanding the Solar Neutrino Problem and neutrinos .
The main source of uncertainty is the existence of conflicting data with different absolute normalization .
Attempts to measure this reaction rate with ^ { 7 } Be beams are under way by the UConn-LLN collaboration , and we discuss a newly emerging method to extract this cross section from the Coulomb dissociation of the radioactive beam of ^ { 8 } B .
We discuss some of the issues relevant for this study including the question of the E2 contribution to the Coulomb dissociation process which was measured to be small .
The Coulomb dissociation appears to provide a viable alternative method for measuring the ^ { 7 } Be ( p, \gamma ) ^ { 8 } B reaction rate , with a weighted average of the RIKEN1 , RIKEN2 and GSI1 published results of S _ { 17 } ( 0 ) = 19.4 \pm 1.3 eV-b .