Critique of the collective model of inelastic scattering

Abstract

The presently accepted formalism for inelastic scattering of nucleons from collective nuclei is based on a deformed optical potential. A simple microscopic model is used to compare this formalism with an alternative formation based on a deformed nuclear density. The results suggest that there are very large differences between the nuclear and the optical potential deformation parameters and that quite different shapes are obtained for the inelastic form factors with these two prescriptions. It is concluded that the accepted collective inelastic formalism may be totally fallacious and that any agreement between its predictions and experiment is perhaps fortuitious.