Investigation of microscopic form factors for the (p, α) reaction

Abstract

Microscopic form factors for the three-nucleon transfer (p, α) reaction are described, with special emphasis on their comparison with conventional cluster form factors. Considerable differences in shape of these form factors is found, especially in the surface region. An extension of the earlier zero-range descriptions of the microscopic form factor to include finite-range effects, is formulated and tested. Center of mass corrections, the α-particle size parameter, and non-local corrections in the single-particle states, all have a strong influence on the shape of the microscopic form factor. The implications of these observations for the extraction of nuclear structure information is discussed, especially as this affects the commonly used procedure of replacing the microscopic form factor with a cluster form factor, in the actual DWBA calculation.