Reaction cross sections for proton scattering from stable and unstable nuclei based on a microscopic approach

Abstract

Reaction cross sections for proton-nucleus elastic scattering are investigated within a nonrelativistic microscopic approach for the nucleon-nucleus optical model potential. Applications were made for nucleon energy ranging between 10 MeV and 1 GeV, considering both stable and unstable target nuclei. The study is based on an in-medium g-matrix folding optical model approach in momentum space, with the appropriate relativistic kinematic corrections needed for the higher energy applications. The effective interactions are based on realistic NN potentials supplemented with a separable non-Hermitian term to allow optimum agreement with current NN phase-shift analyses, particularly the inelasticities above pion production threshold. The target ground-state densities are obtained from Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations based on the finite range, density-dependent Gogny force. The evaluated reaction cross sections for proton scattering are compared with measurements and their systematics is analyzed. A simple function of the total cross sections in terms of the atomic mass number is observed at high energies. At low energies, however, discrepancies with the available data are observed, being more pronounced in the lighter systems.