Uncertainties in Measurements and Calculations of Nonelastic Cross Sections

Scatter in presently available measurements of the nonelastic cross section indicates that this quantity is rather poorly known (approximately 5–10%). We will show examples of this, together with results from a new technique that shows promise of reducing these uncertainties to ≈2–3% in the range of a few MeV to a few tens of MeV. Comparison of results obtained using this new technique with calculations using various optical potentials suggests that such potentials are not reliable for predicting nonelastic cross sections to better than roughly 5%. In view of these results, we suggest that a limited set of high-precision measurements should be made to clarify the experimental picture and guide the further development of optical models.