The optical model of light nuclei

Abstract

A derivation of the optical model operator is presented for a nucleus of any mass number A ≥1. The special case of A = 1 is considered. The formalism is extended to include com ­ pound incident particles, and particles, such as K~ mesons, for which true absorption processes are important. An approximate evaluation is made for K +— 4He elastic scattering at a number of energies. Both real and imaginary parts of the potential are non-local. The radial dependence of each non-locality is calculated. The accuracy of the impulse approximation for K +— 4He scattering is investigated. Correlations in the 4He ground-state wave function are shown to be important in the interpretation of both the empirical local optical model potential and the charge distribution determined b y high-energy electron scattering.