Abstract
Background: The eikonal approximation is commonly used to calculate heavy-ion elastic scattering. However, the full evaluation has only been done (without the use of Monte Carlo techniques or additional approximations) for scattering.
Purpose: Develop, improve, and test the Monte Carlo eikonal method for elastic scattering over a wide range of nuclei, energies, and angles.
Method: Monte Carlo evaluation is used to calculate heavy-ion elastic scattering for heavy nuclei including the center-of-mass correction introduced in this paper and the Coulomb interaction in terms of a partial-wave expansion. A technique for the efficient expansion of the Glauber amplitude in partial waves is developed.
Results: Angular distributions are presented for a number of nuclear pairs over a wide energy range using nucleon-nucleon scattering parameters taken from phase-shift analyses and densities from independent sources. We present the first calculations of the Glauber amplitude, without further approximation, and with realistic densities for nuclei heavier than helium. These densities respect the center-of-mass constraints. The Coulomb interaction is included in these calculations.
Conclusion: The center-of-mass and Coulomb corrections are essential. Angular distributions can be predicted only up to certain critical angles which vary with the nuclear pairs and the energy, but we point out that all critical angles correspond to a momentum transfer near 1 fm.
19 More- Received 1 March 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.86.024604
©2012 American Physical Society