Probing the Elastic Scattering Differential Cross Section for Al + p at Backward Angles in a Low Energy Regime

Abstract

We report on the absolute differential cross section for proton elastic scattering on aluminum in the energy range of 0.8 MeV to 2.1 MeV. In the literature we have found previously published data that follow similar trends but are not consistent with one another. The present measurements also fall within that range, moreover, covering angular regions where there were no reported data, improving databases such as IBANDL. Different methods for the optical model calculations are shown where angular distributions at backward angles are in good agreement, allowing one to fix the optical potential parameters. The calculation results, as well as their data fit, differ significantly as one would expect for the energy range covered in this work, where the nuclear part of the interaction contribution is almost zero. Our data, as well as previous reports, suggest an increase with higher energies for the value of the elastic cross section at backward angles. Further work is required from both experimental and theoretical fronts.