Proton–nucleus elastic scattering and the equation of state of nuclear matter

Abstract

We calculate differential cross sections for proton–nucleus elastic scattering by using a Glauber theory in the optical limit approximation and nucleon distributions that can be obtained in the framework of macroscopic nuclear models in a way dependent on the equation of state of uniform nuclear matter near the saturation density. We find that the peak angle calculated for unstable neutron-rich nuclei in the small momentum transfer regime increases as the parameter L characterizing the density dependence of the symmetry energy decreases. This is a feature associated with the L dependence of the predicted matter radii.