| Abstract: | Anomalous results obtained in recent electron-nucleus scattering experiments suggest that a dispersion correction may contribute significantly to elastic cross sections in the region of the first diffraction minimum. Such a dispersion correction describes the effect of possible virtual nuclear excitations neglected in the conventional phase-shift analyses of electron scattering data. To investigate these effects, the Yale University electron accelerator has been used to study the scattering from 184W and 186W at incident energies between 40 and 65 MeV and scattering angles between 70° and 150°. No evidence of a dispersion effect is seen in the nucleus 186W. In the case of 184W, a comparison of the measured cross sections with those expected on the basis of the results of muonic X-ray experiments indicates that any dispersive effect is limited to less than 10% in the region of the first diffraction minimum. A summary of the results of this laboratory's search for dispersion effects in Nd, Sm, and W is appended. |
