Reaction cross sections for proton scattering from stable and unstable nuclei based on a microscopic approach

TL;DR

This study presents a microscopic optical model to predict proton reaction cross sections across a wide energy range for both stable and unstable nuclei, incorporating realistic interactions and relativistic effects.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive microscopic approach using in-medium g-matrix folding with relativistic corrections and realistic target densities for accurate cross section predictions.

Findings

Reaction cross sections agree with measurements at high energies.

Discrepancies are observed at low energies, especially for lighter nuclei.

A simple mass-dependent function describes high-energy cross sections.

Abstract

Microscopic optical model potential results for reaction cross sections of proton elastic scattering are presented. The applications cover the 10-1000 MeV energy range and consider both stable and unstable nuclei. The study is based on in-medium g-matrix full-folding optical model approach with the appropriate relativistic kinematic corrections needed for the higher energy applications. The effective interactions are based on realistic NN potentials supplemented with a separable non-Hermitian term to allow optimum agreement with current NN phase-shift analyzes, particularly the inelasticities above pion production threshold. The target ground-state densities are obtained from Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations based on the finite range, density dependent Gogny force. The evaluated reaction cross sections for proton scattering are compared with measurements and their systematics is analyzed. A simple function of the total cross sections in terms of the atomic mass number is observed at high energies. At low energies, however, discrepancies with the available data are observed, being more pronounced in the lighter systems.