We study the relative difference E(q) of elastic scattering differential cross sections as function of the momentum transfer q. Applied to neighboring nuclei incident on the same target, it yields qualitative information on the relative changes of matter distributions in an almost model independent way. Variations of the radius and of the surface thickness produce radically different pattern for E(q). The method is well suited at medium and high energies. In the absence of data of sufficient quality, we consider ${}_{}{}^{11}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{C}$ and ${}_{}{}^{11}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Li}$ elastic scattering on ${}_{}{}^{12}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{C}$ at about 60 MeV/nucleon incident energy for illustrative purpose.

• Received 14 October 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.49.2248