The two-body spin-orbit term in the nucleon-nucleon transition operator responsible for intermediate-energy nucleon-nucleus inelastic scattering is studied. It is shown that the simple characteristic energy dependence of the spin-orbit contribution at fixed momentum transfer $q$ is largely maintained in the presence of antisymmetrization, distortion, and other energy-dependent effects. Fixed-$q$ variable-energy plots of cross sections may therefore be useful as a diagnostic tool for important spin-orbit contributions for isoscalar transitions in the range $100\le E_p\le 400$ MeV.

NUCLEAR REACTIONS Effective spin-orbit interaction in inelastic nucleon-nucleus scattering. Energy-dependent signature at fixed momentum transfer.

• Received 27 December 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.27.2777