Elastic Pion-Nucleus Scattering for Studies of the Nuclear Surface

Abstract

The use of elastic ${\pi }^{\pm }$-nucleus scattering to explore the relative neutron-proton distributions in nuclei is studied theoretically. The large difference between ${\pi }^{+}-N$ and ${\pi }^{-}-N$ interactions in the nuclear surface leads to substantial effects. Neutron-radius determinations to 0.1 F appears feasible.