Scattering of Medium-Energy Alpha Particles. II. Microscopic Analysis of Elastic Scattering

Abstract

A microscopic description of the elastic scattering of medium-energy $\alpha$ particles is given in terms of an optical potential calculated from the nuclear-matter distribution and an effective $\alpha$-nucleon interaction. It is shown that the differential cross section is very sensitive to changes in the range parameter of the effective interaction, and that this sensitivity is reflected in the magnitude predicted for the strong-absorption radius. It is also shown that this microscopic analysis can lead to an $A$ dependence for the strong-absorption radius of $1.5A^{\frac{1}{3}}$, in accordance with the general trend observed in optical-model and direct phase analyses, although the fits to the data are not yet sufficiently accurate to yield very precise results for the strong-absorption radii of individual nuclei.