Improved theoretical pion-nucleus optical potentials

An approach which makes the first order pion-nucleus optical potential theoretically sound is presented. This study should permit higher order improvements to the potential to be more meaningful and the nuclear structure information extracted from pi-nucleus scattering to be more reliable. Based on multiple scattering theory, three optical potentials are constructed and studied in momentum space. These models are the popular Kisslinger potential, the local “Laplacian” potential, and an “improved off-shell potential;” the latter one is derived from absorptive separable pion-nucleon potentials which exactly reproduce on-shell πN scattering. By working in momentum space and explicitly including πN resonances and off-shell effects in the definition of the optical potential, the approach described here is capable of handling any number of pi-nucleon partial waves, is applicable over a very wide energy region, is based on a physical model for off-shell behavior, and is extended easily to include higher order effects. The optical potentials are inserted into two different relativistic wave equations to determine the total cross section and elastic differential cross section for pi-nucleus scattering. It is found that the various models for off-shell πN scattering determine significantly different πC¹² scattering, with the improved off-shell model preferred on theoretical grounds. Also discussed is the importance of properly transforming πN scattering to the pi-nucleus c.m. system, the origin of the shift in the peak position of the π^?C total cross section, and the reason for the increased diffractive nature of the differential cross section at 180 MeV.