In this paper, we include off-shell two-body $T$ matrices in both the unary and binary terms of the optical potential derived from Watson's multiple-scattering theory. We take a wholly momentum-space-oriented approach: All calculations are performed in terms of momentum variables and spatial coordinates do not appear. We conclude that it is not possible at present to obtain definitive information on the off-shell nucleon-nucleon $T$ matrix from intermediate-energy elastic nucleon-nucleus scattering. On the other hand, the size of the off-shell effect is sufficiently large that it is not possible to unambiguously select a model for the pair-correlation function without a definite model for the off-shell nucleon-nucleon scattering amplitude.

• Received 28 August 1972

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.7.63