Deformation and orientation effects on reaction cross-sections at intermediate and high energies

Abstract

The effects of deformation and orientation on the nucleus–nucleus and proton–nucleus reaction cross-sections are investigated at intermediate and high energies, in the framework of the Coulomb modified Glauber model. The matter density of the projectile is treated by a deformed Fermi shape with quadrupole and hexadecapole deformations. In-medium effects are included through a local density- and an energy-dependent effective nucleon–nucleon total cross-section. Calculations are performed for the deformed projectiles [Formula: see text] colliding by [Formula: see text] and by protons. It is found that the average of reaction cross-section over all directions of the symmetry axis of the deformed projectile differs by about 2[Formula: see text] compared with that calculated for a spherical projectile with the same rms matter radius as the deformed one. The difference between the cross-sections calculated with and without medium effects is of the order 2[Formula: see text] for both deformed and spherical cases. The integrated reaction cross-sections over all orientation angles provide a consistent explanation of the experimental data. The orientation of the heavy projectile can produce a difference in the calculated cross-section about 35[Formula: see text] for nucleus–nucleus and about 45[Formula: see text] for proton–nucleus. This study is also useful for experiments of polarized beams that have created opportunities to study oriented collisions of deformed nuclei. The method is applied to extract the rms radius of [Formula: see text] and it is found to be about 3.56 and 3.45[Formula: see text]fm when using deformation with and without in-medium effects.