Reaction cross-section predictions for nucleon induced reactions

TL;DR

This paper presents a microscopic approach to predict nucleon-induced reaction cross-sections by explicitly coupling elastic channels with all relevant excitations and transfer channels, achieving excellent agreement with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive microscopic calculation method that accounts for all relevant channels, including pickup channels, for nucleon-nucleus reactions, improving prediction accuracy.

Findings

Calculated reaction cross sections match experimental data well.

Couplings to pickup channels significantly increase absorption.

All observed reaction cross-sections are accounted for at energies above 10 MeV.

Abstract

A microscopic calculation of the optical potential for nucleon-nucleus scattering has been performed by explicitly coupling the elastic channel to all the particle-hole (p-h) excitation states in the target and to all relevant pickup channels. These p-h states may be regarded as doorway states through which the flux flows to more complicated configurations, and to long-lived compound nucleus resonances. We calculated the reaction cross sections for the nucleon induced reactions on the targets $^{40,48}$Ca, $^{58}$Ni, $^{90}$Zr and $^{144}$Sm using the QRPA description of target excitations, coupling to all inelastic open channels, and coupling to all transfer channels corresponding to the formation of a deuteron. The results of such calculations were compared to predictions of a well-established optical potential and with experimental data, reaching very good agreement. The inclusion of couplings to pickup channels were an important contribution to the absorption. For the first time, calculations of excitations account for all of the observed reaction cross-sections, at least for incident energies above 10 MeV.