$\alpha$-nucleus optical potentials from chiral effective field theory $NN$ interactions

TL;DR

This paper develops alpha-nucleus optical potentials using chiral effective field theory nucleon-nucleon interactions and double-folding methods, achieving accurate elastic scattering predictions for various targets and energies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining chiral EFT interactions with double-folding techniques to determine optical potentials for alpha-nucleus collisions.

Findings

Excellent agreement with experimental elastic scattering data.

Sensitivity analysis of cross sections to interaction and density choices.

Applicability across a range of energies and targets.

Abstract

We present a determination of optical potentials for $^4$He-target collisions using the double-folding method. We use chiral effective field theory nucleon-nucleon interactions at next-to-next-to-leading order combined with state-of-the-art nucleonic densities. The imaginary part of the optical potential is obtained from the real double-folding interaction either through a proportionality constant or applying Kramers-Kronig dispersion relations. With these potentials, we compute the elastic scattering of $^4$He off various targets, from $^4$He to $^{120}$Sn. We study the sensitivity of our predicted cross sections to the choice of nucleon-nucleon interactions and nuclear densities. Very good agreement is obtained with existing elastic-scattering data for $^4$He energies between 100 and 400 MeV.