The theory of the elastic scattering of a nucleon from a nucleus is presented in the form of a spectator expansion of the optical potential. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of the free projectile-nucleus propagator when the coupling of the struck target nucleon to the residual target must be taken into consideration. First order calculations within this framework are shown for neutron total cross sections and for proton scattering for a number of target nuclides at a variety of energies. The calculated values of these observables are in very good agreement with measurement.

• Received 27 March 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.52.1992