We study the validity of the substitution of interaction cross sections for total reaction cross sections for a nucleus incident on a target nucleus at relativistic energies. We show that, for incident stable nuclei, the predicted difference between interaction and total reaction cross sections is large enough to probe the nuclear structure, particularly in a mass region of less than around 40. For analyses of the difference, we construct “pseudo data” for the reaction cross sections because empirical data are very limited at high energies. The construction of the pseudo data is based on our assumption that empirically unknown total reaction cross sections are precisely predicted by the phenomenological black-sphere model of nuclei that we developed recently. The comparison with the empirical interaction cross sections suggests a significant difference between the reaction and interaction cross sections for stable projectiles on a carbon target, which is of the order of 0–100 mb.

• Received 5 March 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.78.061601