Scattering of Protons in a Spin-Orbit Potential

Abstract

An approximation method is described for treating spin-orbit potentials in the optical model. The method is essentially a perturbation expansion using exact scattering amplitudes for a central optical potential as the unperturbed scattering amplitudes. The method is compared to an exact calculation and its usefulness in the medium-energy region demonstrated. The effects of a spin-orbit term on the differential cross section and the spin polarization distribution are investigated as a function of the parameters involved in the medium-energy region. The polarization is shown to be approximately independent of the shape of the form factor of the spin-orbit term in this energy region. The reaction cross section is insensitive to the inclusion of a spin-orbit term of reasonable depth.