Wave-spreading effects in nuclear scattering at intermediate energies

Based on the Fresnel approach discussed in a previous article the S-matrix for nuclear elastic scattering is factorized into an infinite product, the n-th term of which is essentially given by (n ? 1)-fold commutators of the interaction potential at n different z-coordinate positions. A subsequent cumulant expansion expresses the Fresnel phase shift as an infinite sum of many-body clusters. In constrast to eikonal-type expansions each term of this sum contains contributions of all orders in the inverse wave number. Because of this feature the present expansion is useful for scattering from light nuclei over a wide range of energies and scattering angles.