Surprisal analysis is applied to inclusive nuclear reactions of ($e$,$e^{\prime }$), ($\alpha$,${\alpha }^{\prime }$), and (Li,Li'). By introducing constraints on the excitation energy and its square root, excellent fits to the experimental data are obtained. It is suggested that a substantial part of the so-called quasielastic (quasifree) scattering cross sections is due to more complex processes.

NUCLEAR REACTIONS Surprisal analysis. Inclusive nuclear reactions. Estimation of exciton numbers.

• Received 23 September 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.25.1272