Microscopic and conventional optical model analysis of neutron elastic scattering at 21.6 MeV over a wide mass range

Differential fast neutron elastic scattering angular distributions have been measured at 21.6 MeV for the natural elements Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Y, Ce, Pb_r (radiogenic lead) and Bi by employing pulsed beam time-of-flight techniques. The energy resolution was about 0.5 MeV (FWHM) throughout the measurements. The experimental data have been analysed in terms of a standard phenomenological spherical optical model. Potential depths and geometrical parameters were determined from individual best fits to the data. Volume integrals of the real and imaginary parts of the potential were calculated using these parameters. A similar technique was utilized to calculate root mean square radii of the real potential, from which radii of point matter distributions were obtained for comparison with α-particle scattering data at 166 MeV and with charge distribution radii from electron scattering.Microscopic folding models for the optical potential according to Jeukenne, Lejeune and Mahaux, Brieva and Rook, and Yamaguchi et al. have been tested by calculating angular distributions, volume integrals and root mean square radii for the real and imaginary potential parts. The results of these calculations are compared with those of the phenomenological analyses. The microscopic potentials have also been intercompared by studying introduced normalizing parameters of the real and imaginary potential parts as well as isovector and isoscalar contributions to the volume integrals.     

Calculation of the 6He + p elastic scattering cross sections within the folding approach and the high-energy approximation for the optical potential

Data on cross sections for the ⁶He + p elastic scattering at energies of tens of MeV/nucleon are analyzed by calculating the microscopic optical potential (OP) (its real and imaginary parts). The effect produced on the cross section by the dependence of the nucleon-nucleon potential on the nuclear matter density, the role of the spin-orbit interaction, and the role of nonlinearity and renormalization of the microscopic OP are studied. A comparison with the experimental data allows sensitivity of cross sections to these effects to be tested.     

Complex microscopic optical potential between two nuclei based on Dirac-Brueckner theory for nuclear matter

The real and imaginary parts of the optical-model potential between two nuclei are calculated in the energy density formalism. The energy density is derived from the Dirac-Brueckner approach to nuclear matter. In this approach, both free NN scattering and the saturation properties of nuclear matter can be explained starting from a realistic NN interaction. The relativistic features incorporated in the Dirac-Brueckner approach make the real part of the optical potential less attractive than that obtained in a non-relativistic calculation while the imaginary part is enhanced. The comparison of the calculated differential cross section for elastic ¹²C-¹²C scattering with the experimental data suggests that the enhancement of the imaginary part due to the relativistic treatment is favourable while its repulsive contribution to the real part is unfavourable.     

Microscopic calculation of the surface absorption in the optical potential

We calculated the contributions of the two-particle one-hole (2p-1h) and the one-particle two-hole (1p-1h) excitations to the imaginary partW(E, R) of then-⁴⁰Ca optical potential. The bound single particle states and energies of the⁴⁰Ca nucleus are calculated quantum mechanically by solving the Schrödinger equation with a Woods-Saxon potential. For the excited states in the continuum we use the Thomas-Fermi approximation. Different forms of contact residual interactions have been tested. A combination of aδ-force and a smeared SDI can fit the phenomenologicalW(E, R).     

Surface and volume contributions to real and imaginary parts of the heavy-ion optical potential

Starting from the Feshbach expression for the optical potential, explicit formulae for the real and the imaginary parts of the optical potential between two heavy ions (HI's) are obtained. They are each composed of a volume and a surface term. The contributions to the volume term are calculated in two nuclear Fermi liquids which flow through each other starting from the realistic Reid soft core nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction. Since the Fermi surface is formed by two spheres one obtains a complex Brueckner reaction matrix which is approximated by a complex, effective local interaction. It is used in a fully antisymmetrized double folding procedure to obtain the volume terms of the optical potential between the two HI's. The surface contributions are directly calculated in the collision of the two finite HI's. The collective surface vibrations (3^? octupole state and 2⁺, 4⁺ (T = 0) giant resonances for the ¹⁶O?¹⁶O collision) are included as intermediate states. This yields especially an imaginary contribution at the surface which reduces the transparency found with the volume terms alone. The method is applied to ¹⁶O?¹⁶O scattering at 83 and 332 MeV laboratory energy. The local approximations to the real and imaginary parts obtained in this way agree well with phenomenological fits. The surface terms improve the agreement of the differential cross section at 80 MeV where experimental data are available.     

Precision measurement of the muonic 5-4 transitions in Pb and 4-3 transitions in ba as a test for the validity of QED

The real parts of the optical model potentials for 104 MeV alpha-particle and 156 MeV⁶Li ion scattering from^{40, 48}Ca are calculated in terms of folding model approaches. The validity of different procedures is tested by comparing the differential cross section predictions with experimental data measured with high angular accuracy. It is found that a refined folding potential accounting for density dependence of an effective nucleon-nucleon interaction is appropriate for alpha particle scattering without any parameter adjustment. However, for⁶Li ion scattering renormalization of the depth of the real potential is necessary.     

The role of the imaginary form factor in the microscopic description of (p,p′) scattering from nuclei with one closed shell

The inelastic scattering of protons from the lowest 2⁺ and 3^? levels in ⁴⁰Ca, Ni, Sn and N = 50 isotopes is analyzed for different incident proton energies. The addition of a collective imaginary term to the microscopic real form factor very much improves the agreement between the calculated and experimental cross section angular distributions. The variation with energy of the relative contributions of the ΔT = 1 and gDT = 0 isospin parts of the transitions is discussed.     

The contribution of nuclear inelastic excitation to the optical potential for heavy ions

Using the plane-wave approximation we derive analytical expressions for both the real and imaginary parts of the polarization potential arising from nuclear inelastic scattering. These potentials and the resulting elastic and inelastic cross sections are compared with exact coupledchannel calculations for ¹³C on ⁴⁰Ca at 68 MeV. The agreement, for the most part, is good. We also briefly discuss the numerical non-local potentials for this system and the imaginary polarization potential for ¹⁶O on ²⁰⁸Pb at 104 MeV.     

Microscopic study on proton elastic scattering of light exotic nuclei at energies below than 100 MeV/nucleon

The proton elastic scattering data on some light exotic nuclei, namely, ^{6, 8}He, ^{9, 11}Li, and ^{10, 11, 12}Be, at energies below than 100MeV/nucleon are analyzed using the single folding optical model. The real, imaginary, and spin-orbit parts of the optical potential (OP) are constructed only from the folded potentials and their derivatives using M3Y effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. These OP parts, their renormalization factors and their volume integrals are studied. The surface and spin-orbit potentials are important to fit the experimental data. Three model densities for halo nuclei are used and the sensitivity of the cross-sections to these densities is tested. The imaginary OP within high-energy approximation is used and compared with the single folding OP. This OP with few and limited fitting parameters, which have systematic behavior with incident energy, successfully describes the proton elastic scattering data with exotic nuclei.     

Generator-coordinate study of elastic 16O + 40Ca scattering

Elastic ¹⁶O + ⁴⁰Ca phase shifts are calculated using a generator-coordinate method. A rotational band of molecular resonances is found with a rotational constant of about 30 keV. The width of these resonances should make them observable in the energy range 30 to 50 MeV. These features can be approximately reproduced by a shallow local potential. Properties of the imaginary part of the optical potential are discussed qualitatively. The optical potential should be transparent in a window of J-values comprised between about 16 and 25. Odd-even effects are shown to be negligible in the real part of the potential but might be important in its imaginary part. A possible confirmation of these predictions is found in an experimental excitation function.     

On the behavior of Ho3+ in LaCl3 and the correlation with its absorption spectra

The crystal field (CF) energies of the electronic ground state of Ho³⁺ ions in a LaCl₃ host have been calculated with the set of CF parameters of Crosswhite et al. The magnetic anisotropy and the average susceptibility have been studied from room temperature down to liquid helium temperature. The g-values and the hyperfine structure parameters have been computed and compared with the experimental values. The Schottky and hyperfine heat capacities have also been determined and some interesting anomalies are predicted. All available observed properties are explained fairly well on the basis of the interaction of the ion with the CF proposed by Crosswhite et al.     

A nuclear structure approach to the nucleon-nucleus optical potential at low energy

An antisymmetrized microscopic calculation of the optical potential for nucleon-⁴⁰Ca elastic scattering is derived. RPA correlations taken into account in the one-particle mass operator are shown to bring a correction to the first-order real potential at low energies and to lead to an imaginary potential. Both are calculated for incident nucleon energies between 10 and 50 MeV. Their general properties are studied in great detail and, after comparison with empirical imaginary potentials, the reliability of such an approach is discussed according to the value of the incident energy.     

Nucleus-nucleus scattering in the high-energy approximation and optical folding potential

A microscopic complex folding-model potential that reproduces the scattering amplitude of Glauber-Sitenko theory in its optical limit is obtained. The real and imaginary parts of this potential are dependent on energy and are determined by known data on the nuclear-density distributions and on the nucleon-nucleon scattering amplitude. For the real part, use is also made of a folding potential involing effective nucleon-nucleon forces and allowing for the nucleon-exchange term. Three forms of semimicroscopic optical potentials where the contributions of the template potentials—that is, the real and the imaginary folding-model potential—are controlled by adjusting two parameters are constructed on this basis. The efficiency of these microscopic and semimicroscopic potentials is tested by means of a comparison with the experimental differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of heavy ions ¹⁶O on nuclei at an energy of E ～ 100 MeV per nucleon.     

The p-40Ca and n-40Ca mean fields from the iterative moment approach

The real part V(r; E) of the p-⁴⁰Ca and n-⁴⁰Ca mean fields is extrapolated from positive towards negative energies by means of the iterative moment approach, which incorporates the dispersion relation between the real and imaginary parts of the mean field. The potential V(r; E) is the sum of a Hartree-Fock type component V^HF, (r; E) and a dispersive correction δV(r; E); the latter is due to the coupling of the nucleon to excitations of the ⁴⁰Ca core. The potentials V(r; E) and V_HF(r; E) are assumed to have Woods-Saxon shapes. The calculations are first carried out in the framework of the original version of the iterative moment approach, in which both the depth and the radius of the Hartree-Fock type contribution depend upon energy, while its diffuseness is constant and equal to that of V(r; E). The corresponding extrapolation towards negative energies is somewhat sensitive to the detailed parametrization of the energy dependence of the imaginary part of the mean field, which is the main input of the calculation. Moreover, the radius of the calculated Hartree-Fock type potential then increases with energy, in contrast to previous findings in ²⁰⁸Pb and ⁸⁹Y. A new version of the iterative moment approach is thus developed in which the radial shape of the Hartree-Fock type potential is independent of energy; the justification of this constraint is discussed. The diffuseness of the potential V(r; E) is assumed to be constant and equal to that of V_HF(r; E). The potential calculated from this new version is in good agreement with the real part of phenomenological optical-model potentials and also yields good agreement with the single-particle energies in the two valence shells. Two types of energy dependence are considered for the depth U_HF(E) of the Hartree-Fock type component, namely a linear and an exponential form. The linear approximation is more satisfactory for large negative energies (E < −30 MeV) while the exponential form is better for large positive energies (E > 50 MeV). This is explained by relating the energy dependence of U_HF(E) to the nonlocality of the microscopic Hartree-Fock type component. Near the Fermi energy the effective mass presents a pronounced peak at the potential surface. This is due to the coupling to surface excitations of the core and reflects the energy dependence of the potential radius. The absolute spectroscopic factors of low-lying single-particle excitations in ³⁹Ca, ⁴¹Ca, ³⁹K and ⁴¹Sc are found to be close to 0.8. The calculated p-⁴⁰Ca and n-⁴⁰Ca potentials are strikingly similar, although the two calculations have been performed entirely independently. The two potentials can be related to one another by introducing a Coulomb energy shift. Attention is drawn to the fact that the extrapolated energy dependence of the real part of the mean field at large positive energy sensitively depends upon the assumed behaviour of the imaginary part at large negative energy. Yet another version of the iterative moment approach is introduced, in which the radial shape of the HF-type component is independent of energy while both the radius and the diffuseness of the full potential V(r; E) depend upon E. This model indicates that the accuracy of the available empirical data is probably not sufficient to draw reliable conclusions on the energy dependence of the diffuseness of V(r; E).     

Nuclear matter approach to the heavy-ion optical potential

An energy-dependent local potential for heavy-ion (HI) scattering is derived from Reid's softcore interaction using the Brueckner theory. The Bethe-Goldstone equation in momentum space is first solved with the outgoing boundary condition for two colliding systems of nuclear matter with the relative momentum K_r per nucleon. The Fermi distribution is assumed to consist of two spheres without double counting of their intersection separated by the relative momentum K_r. The angle-averaged Pauli projection function is given in the form of a one-dimensional integral. Secondly the optical potential for HI scattering is evaluated using the energy-density formalism. The energy density is calculated for two limiting cases: (i) the sudden approximation in which the spatial distribution of the two HI is described by an antisymmetrized cluster wave function, and (ii) the adiabatic limit represented by an antisymmetrized two-centre wave function. The complex HI potential is defined in terms of the energy density from nuclear matter so that both volume elements in the finite and the infinite systems have the same nucleon and kinetic energy density. This method is applied to the ¹⁶O + ¹⁶O, ⁴⁰Ca + ¹⁶O, and ⁴⁰Ca + ⁴⁰Ca potentials. The calculated results are compared with phenomenological potentials. Though in principle our approach can generate an imaginary part for the HI potential, the magnitude is too small. Reasons and possible improvements of this point are discussed.     

Single Folding Optical Potential for Elastic Scattering of Protons from <Superscript>14</Superscript>N and <Superscript>16</Superscript>O in a Wide Range of Energies

Available experimental data for protons elastically scattered from ¹⁴N and ¹⁶O target nuclei are reanalyzed within the framework of single folding optical potential (SFOP) model. In this model, the real part of the potential is derived on the basis of single folding potential. The renormalization factor N _r is extracted for the two aforementioned nuclear systems. Theoretical calculations fairly reproduce the experimental data in the whole angular range. Energy dependence of real and imaginary volume integrals as well as reaction cross sections are discussed.     

Comparison of the spontaneous fission of 244Cm and 252Cf: (I). Fragment masses and kinetic energies

The energy of both fission fragments of ²⁴⁴Cm and ²⁵²Cf, respectively, was measured in coincidence with the prompt neutrons (see part II). Energy calibration of the surface-barrier detectors was done after the method of Schmitt et al. with the ²⁵²Cf fragments. Mean values and rms widths of the mass and energy distributions of both isotopes are calculated and compared with the results of other authors. The total kinetic energy of ²⁴⁴Cm fragments is at least as high as that of ²⁵²Cf fragments.     

Proton elastic scattering and coupling to pickup channels

Calculations have been carried out for elastic scattering of protons on ⁴⁰CA in which pickup channels are strongly coupled to the elastic channels. These calculations strongly suggest that transfer channels contribute significantly to both the real and imaginary parts of the local optical potential.