Strong coupling effects in near-barrier heavy-ion elastic scattering

Accurate elastic scattering angular distribution data measured at bombarding energies just above the Coulomb barrier have shapes that can markedly differ from or be the same as the expected classical Fresnel scattering pattern depending on the structure of the projectile, the target or both. Examples are given such as ¹⁸O + ¹⁸⁴W and ¹⁶O + ^{148, 152}Sm, where the expected rise above Rutherford scattering due to Coulomb-nuclear interference is damped by coupling to the target excited states, and the extreme case of ¹¹Li scattering, where coupling to the ⁹Li + n + n continuum leads to an elastic scattering shape that cannot be reproduced by any standard optical model parameter set. An early indication that the projectile structure can modify the elastic scattering angular distribution was the large vector analyzing powers observed in polarised ⁶Li scattering. The recent availability of high-quality ⁶He, ¹¹Li and ¹¹Be data provides further examples of the influence that coupling effects can have on elastic scattering. Conditions for strong projectile-target coupling effects are presented with special emphasis on the importance of the beam-target charge combination being large enough to bring about the strong coupling effects. Several measurements are proposed that can lead to further understanding of strong coupling effects by both inelastic excitation and nucleon transfer on near-barrier elastic scattering. A final note on the anomalous nature of ⁸B elastic scattering is presented as it possesses a more or less normal Fresnel scattering shape whereas one would a priori not expect this due to the very low breakup threshold of ⁸B . The special nature of ¹¹Li is presented as it is predicted that no matter how far above the Coulomb barrier the elastic scattering is measured, its shape will not appear as Fresnel like whereas the elastic scattering of all other loosely bound nuclei studied to date should eventually do so as the incident energy is increased, making both ⁸B and ¹¹Li truly “exotic”.     

12C induced transfer reactions on 56Fe

Transfer reactions ⁵⁶Fe(¹²C, xN) have been investigated. Angular distributions of particles following elastic scattering, one neutron and one proton transfer reaction channels leading to low lying states in respective residual nuclei have been measured. These are analysed using the coupled reaction channel (CRC) formalism. Starting with a double folded real potential, the elastic scattering angular distribution is calculated using the computer code FRESCO. Inclusion of couplings to first excited states in both the target and the projectile already tends to describe the experimental elastic scattering distribution. Additional coupling of one neutron transfer reaction to first five excited states in ⁵⁵Fe and one proton transfer reaction to first three low lying states in ⁵⁷Co improves fit to the elastic scattering angular distribution. Further refinement in fit is brought about by addition of a weak imaginary potential to the complex potential calculated by ERESCO to simulate the absorption effects due to those channels whose coupling is not included explicitly. Such a potential describes the experimental angular distributions for elastic, one neutron and one proton transfer channels correctly in shape and magnitude without any arbitrary normalisation.     

Elastic scattering and fusion cross-sections in 7Li + 27Al reaction

With an aim to understand the effects of breakup and transfer channels on elastic scattering and fusion cross-sections in the ⁷Li + ²⁷Al reaction, simultaneous measurement of elastic scattering angular distributions and fusion cross-sections have been carried out at various energies (E _lab?=?8.0–16.0 MeV) around the Coulomb barrier. Optical model (OM) analysis of the elastic scattering data does not show any threshold anomaly or breakup threshold anomaly behaviour in the energy dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the OM potential. Fusion cross-section at each bombarding energy is extracted from the measured α-particle evaporation energy spectra at backward angles by comparing with the statistical model prediction. Results on fusion cross-sections from the present measurements along with data from the literature have been compared with the coupled-channels predictions. Detailed coupled-channels calculations have been carried out to study the effect of coupling of breakup, inelastic and transfer, channels on elastic scattering and fusion. The effect of 1n-stripping transfer coupling was found to be significant compared to that of the projectile breakup couplings in the present system.     

Long-range Coulomb forces in DIS: missed radiative corrections?

The Born approximation, one photon exchange, used for DIS (deep inelastic scattering) is subject to virtual radiative corrections which are related to the long-range Coulomb forces. They may be sizeable for heavy nuclei since Zα is not a small parameter. So far, these corrections are known only for two processes, elastic scattering and bremsstrahlung on the Coulomb field of a point-like target. While the former amplitude acquires only a phase, in the latter case also the cross-section is modified. Although the problem of Coulomb corrections for DIS on nuclei is extremely difficult, it should be challenged rather than “swept under the carpet”. The importance of these radiative corrections is questioned in the present paper. We show that, in the simplest case of a constant hadronic current, the Coulomb corrections provide a phase to the Born amplitude, therefore the cross-section remains the same. Inclusion of more realistic hadronic dynamics changes this conclusion. The example of coherent production of vector mesons off nuclei reveals large effects. So far a little progress has been made deriving lepton wave functions in the Coulomb field of an extended target. Employing available results based on the first-order approximation in Zα, we conclude that the Coulomb corrections are still important for heavy nuclei. We also consider an alternative approach for extended nuclear targets, the eikonal approximation, which we demonstrate to reproduce the known exact results for Coulomb corrections. Calculating electroproduction of vector mesons, we again arrive at a large deviation from the Born approximation. We conclude that one should accept with caution the experimental results for nuclear effects in DIS based on analyses done in the Born approximation. Received: 16 May 2001 / Accepted: 4 July 2001     

An interaction potential for heavy-ion scattering

The long-range part of the nucleus-nucleus interaction is taken to be given by folding the density distribution of one nucleus with the real part of the single-nucleon optical potential of the other. Analytic approximations are derived for the folded potential and its derivative in the case where the density distribution and single-nucleon optical potential have Saxon-Woods form factors of equal surface thickness. The approximations are generalised to the case of different surface thicknesses and are compared with a previous parametrisation due to Broglia and Winther. The variation with mass number of the central density of the Saxon-Woods matter distribution required to obtain the correct normalisation is shown to be large and an expression for the variation is given. Some calculations are performed on various elastic scattering data using the “quarter-point recipe” of Frahn's diffraction theory. The parameters required to fit the quarter-points of the elastic cross sections are shown to be consistent with their accepted values. It is shown, however, that the quarter-point recipe leads to a larger radius for ²⁰⁸Pb than for ²³²Th. The positions and heights of the pure Coulomb barrier (L = 0) are evaluated for various nuclei. The barrier radii are found to be sufficiently large to suggest that an interaction of the folded type should be reasonable in this region.     

Analysis of the elastic scattering of 12C on 11B in the framework of the molecular wave function method

The elastic scattering of ¹²C on ¹¹B has been analyzed in the framework of the molecular wave function method. It turns out that a coherent sum of the direct and transfer amplitudes gives better agreement with the experimental data than an incoherent sum. Non-adiabatic and Coriolis coupling terms seem to be of little importance in this particular case.     

Large-angle 6Li + 28Si elastic and inelastic scattering at 27 and 34 MeV

Elastic and inelastic scattering data extending to θ_c.m ≈ 175° are reported for ⁶Li + ²⁸Si at 27 and 34 MeV. Optical model analyses of the elastic data were made using a variety of real potential forms. The large-angle data cannot be fitted with a Woods-Saxon real potential, but are well described by Woods-Saxon squared, double-folded or Fourier-Bessel potentials. The real potential is the same at both energies, but the imaginary potential is weaker at 27 MeV. The inelastic data were analyzed using the DWBA and coupled channels techniques with folded real form factors and deformed Woods-Saxon imaginary potentials, with the deformations taken from electron scattering. The 2⁺ state was fitted well at both energies with the DWBA, while the prediction decreased too rapidly at large angles for the 4⁺ state. The large-angle 4⁺ data were better described when two-step excitations were included in the coupled-channels calculations. The forward-angle 2⁺ data are sensitive to the interference between Coulomb and nuclear scattering and show that the nuclear and Coulomb deformation parameters β₂ are equal for this transition.     

Partial-wave analysis and baryon spectroscopy<Superscript>⋆</Superscript>

We continue to update our PWA of fundamental reactions as new data become available. Of primary interest to the N^* program are πN elastic scattering and the photo- and electroproduction of pions. Other photo-reactions are more model dependent, but may reveal resonances coupling weakly to πN final states. We also mention recent results from nucleon-nucleon elastic scattering, which have a less well-known connection to experimental programs proposing to extract N ^* properties from complete experiments.     

Accurate determination of the 13C-12C+n spectroscopic factor

We have measured ¹²C-¹³C elastic cross sections at 12 MeV between 40°–140° in 1° steps to ±1%. The observed oscillatory interference between Coulomb scattering and the neutron transfer process is analyzed using exact finite-range DWBA, and a model-independent value of C² = 2.55±0.10 for the asymptotic normalization of the $\text{1}\text{p}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ neutron wave function in ¹³C is obtained. Using radial wave functions determined by elastic electron scattering the spectroscopic factor is found to be S = 0.81±0.04.     

Influence of breakup on elastic and α-production channels in the ~6Li+~(116)Sn reaction

The effects of breakup reactions on elastic and α-production channels for the ~6Li+~(116)Sn system have been investigated at energies below and near the Coulomb barrier. The angular distributions of α-particle production differential cross sections have been obtained at several projectile energies between 22 and 40 MeV. The measured breakup α-particle differential cross sections and elastic scattering angular distributions have been compared with the predictions of continuum-discretized coupled channels(CDCC) calculations. The influence of breakup coupling has also been investigated by extracting dynamic polarization potentials(DPP) from the CDCC calculations. From the predictions of CDCC calculations the relative importance of the nuclear, Coulomb, and total breakup contributions have also been investigated. The nuclear breakup couplings are observed to play an important role in comparison to the Coulomb breakup for the direct breakup mechanisms associated in the reaction of ~6Li projectile with ~(116)Sn target nuclei. The influence of strong nuclear breakup coupling exhibits suppression in the Coulomb-nuclear interference peak. The direct breakup cross sections from the CDCC calculations under-predict the measured α-particle differential cross sections at all energies. This suggests that the measured α particles may also have contributions from other possible breakup reaction channels.     

Long range absorption and other optical-model effects from strong inelastic coupling

An optical potential component is constructed to represent the effect of a strongly coupled inelastic excitation upon elastic scattering. In the particular case of quadrupole Coulomb excitation a long range imaginary potential component is derived in closed form. The effects of long range absorption upon the elastic scattering are considered in a general way by inserting this potential into a weak absorption model and deriving an elastic scattering cross section in closed form. Below the Coulomb barrier the formula takes a simple form which may be related to the semiclassical theory of Coulomb excitation. The potential component arising from nuclear excitation of an inelastic state may be evaluated numerically on a computer. Two examples computed (50 MeV α-scattering on ¹⁵⁴Sm and 60 MeV ¹⁶O scattering on ⁴⁰Ca) exhibit strong l-dependence in the potential component.     

Explanation of the backangle anomaly and the isotope effect within a microscopic study of elastic α-scattering on the even Ca isotopes

Elastic α-scattering on the isotopes ^40,42,44,48Ca has been studied microscopically within the framework of the generator coordinate method. For energies above the Coulomb barrier the backangle enhancement of the cross section in elastic α-⁴⁰Ca scattering is explained by several overlapping barrier resonances, while for energies below the barrier the backangle rise is caused by individual long-living resonances which — in agreement with recent experimental data — confirm the concept of an “α-⁴⁰Ca quasimolecule”. The isotope effect showing up in a different behaviour of the cross section at backangles is due to a different absorptive strength of the isotopes. “Neutron blocking” has been ruled out as a possible explanation of the isotope effect.     

Stripping to analog resonances

Stripping to analog resonances is studied by expressing the DWBA cross section in terms of the resolvent operator appropriate to the system composed of the proton and the target. The resolvent operator is decomposed, by means of the Feshbach projection operator technique, into parts corresponding to the entrance channel, the analog state and the compound states. The approximation scheme is similar to that used in our previous treatment of proton scattering at an analog resonance. The complex proton form factor depends on the Green function satisfying the inhomogeneous Schrödinger equation corresponding to elastic scattering and on the Coulomb potential generated by the target. The method is applied to (³He, d) stripping to analogs in ^{93, 95, 97}Tc.     

Elastic scattering of 3He and 4He at incident energies near the coulomb barrier

The elastic scattering of ³He and ⁴He from Zr, Mo, Cd, and Te isotopes is studied at incident energies near the Coulomb barrier. Marked differences are observed between the excitation curves of ³He and ⁴He. These differences are shown to be due to a large surface absorption in the ³He scattering. A systematic study of the size parameters deduced from the present and other ⁴He experiments shows deviations from the $\text{A}\text{1}\text{3}$ law for nuclei near closed neutron shells.     

Nuclear and Coulomb deformation parameters of 142Nd

Nuclear and Coulomb deformation parameters have been deduced from DWBA analyses of angular distributions of 67.5 MeV ¹³C ions inelastically scattered from ¹⁴²Nd. Optical model parameters from fits of measured elastic scattering data were used with previously measured B(EL) values to determine initial deformation parameters. Comparison With the experimental data indicates that DWBA calculations can be used to understand the inelastic scattering from the nearly spherical nucleus ¹⁴²Nd.     

Neutron elastic scattering on T = 0 nuclei

Neutron elastic scattering on Si, S and Ca has been measured at 11, 20 and 26 MeV using the Ohio University 11 MeV Tandem Van de Graaff. A time-of-flight technique was used and the angular distributions covered an angular range from 15° through 155°. The measured cross sections were corrected for dead time, source anisotropy, detector efficiency, finite geometry, neutron flux attenuation and multiple scattering. Individual as well as global fits to the data using an optical-model search code are presented. The comparison of the optical-model analysis to the neutron and proton elastic scattering data in the case of ⁴⁰Ca, allows an empirical determination of the Coulomb correction term which may be parametrized as $\text{0.46 Z/A}\text{1}\text{3}$. It is also shown that the elastic scattering and inelastic scattering to the first 2⁺ states in ²⁸Si and ³²S may be fitted using the same optical-model parameters obtained for ⁴⁰Ca using the coupled-channel formalism.     

A multichannel quasi-separable potential approach to nucleon-nucleus scattering

A quasi-separable potential model for two-body multichannel scattering is developed. Spin and Coulomb effects are taken into account. By a suitable choice of the separable nuclear interactions we arrive at simple analytic expressions for the transition amplitudes. Our model is applied to the study of the n-¹²C and p-¹²C scattering processes. Effects arising from the excitation of the target nucleus are well reproduced.     

Heavy ion reactions around the Coulomb barrier

The angular distributions of fission fragments for the ³²S+¹⁸⁴W reaction near Coulomb barrier energies are measured. The experimental fission excitation function is obtained. The measured fission cross sections are decomposed into fusion-fission, quasi-fission and fast fission contributions by the dinuclear system (DNS) model. The hindrance to completing fusion both at small and large collision energies is explained. The fusion excitation functions of ³²S+^90,96Zr in an energy range from above to below the Coulomb barrier are measured and analyzed within a semi-classical model. The obvious effect of positive Q-value multi-neutron transfers on the sub-barrier fusion enhancement is observed in the ³²S+⁹⁶Zr system. In addition, the excitation functions of quasi-elastic scattering at a backward angle have been measured with high precision for the systems of ¹⁶O + ²⁰⁸Pb, ¹⁹⁶Pt, ¹⁸⁴W, and ^154,152Sm at energies well below the Coulomb barrier. Considering the deformed coupling effects, the extracted diffuseness parameters are close to the values extracted from the systematic analysis of elastic and inelastic scattering data. The elastic scattering angular distribution of ¹⁷F+¹²C at 60 MeV is measured and calculated by using the continuum-discretized coupled-channels (CDCC) approach. It is found that the diffuseness parameter of the real part of core-target potential has to be increased by 20% to reproduce the experimental result, which corresponds to an increment of potential depth at the surface region. The breakup cross section and the coupling between breakup and elastic scattering are small.     

Coulomb-nuclear interference in the scattering of 3He and α-particles by 122,124Te, 124Sn and 114Cd

Angular distributions and excitation functions of the elastic and inelastic scattering of ³He and α-particles by ^122,124Te, ¹²⁴Sn and ¹¹⁴Cd at incident energies around the Coulomb barrier were measured. The experimental results were analyzed in the framework of the optical model and DWBA taking into account the interference between nuclear and Coulomb excitation. Nuclear and charge deformation parameters were deduced.