On the mean free path of medium-energy nucleons in nuclear matter

Abstract

We show that the “experimental” value of the mean free path of nucleons in nuclear matter deduced from elastic nucleon—nucleus scattering is ambiguous and depends critically on the parametrization chosen for the radial shape of the optical potentials. We find that a realistic choice of radial potential shapes, based on recent theoretical advances in nucleon optical models, leads to derived values for the mean free path at medium energies which are compatible with a simple microscopic expectation.