The nuclear optical model

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation P E Hodgson 1971 Rep. Prog. Phys. 34 765 DOI 10.1088/0034-4885/34/2/306

This article is corrected by 1971 Rep. Prog. Phys. 34 1249

0034-4885/34/2/765

Abstract

The main features of the nuclear optical model are reviewed, with particular attention to current growth points. The determination of the form and strength of the nucleon-nucleus interaction by calculation from the nucleon-nucleon interaction is described and the results compared with those obtained phenomenologically. The potential is applied to analyse single-particle bound states, and it is shown how this can give its isospin and state dependence. Even when it is used simply to calculate the elastic scattering, the optical model must be established in the framework of nuclear reaction theory, and allowance made for the effects of all the reaction channels, and in particular for the compound nucleus processes and the associated fluctuations in the cross sections. The model can then be applied to analyse data on the elastic scattering of nucleons, deuterons, helions, tritons and α particles by nuclei, and this enables its parameters to be determined more precisely and its range of validity to be investigated. The nucleon data is so extensive that it is possible to study several small terms in the potential, in particular the isospin term and the nuclear spin term, in addition to the familiar spin-orbit term. The scattering of the composite particles shows several apparently anomalous features that on investigation yield additional information on nuclear structure. The optical model may be extended to give the inelastic as well as the elastic scattering, and this makes it possible to analyse many apparently complicated phenomena. The application of the results of optical model analyses to the calculation of compound nucleus cross sections is also discussed, together with the use of optical model wavefunctions in calculations of direct reaction cross sections.

This review was completed in August 1971.

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10.1088/0034-4885/34/2/306