Study of proton total reaction cross section using a Helm model nuclear form factor

An analytic expression for proton–nucleus total reaction cross section has been developed within the framework of Coulomb modified Glauber multiple scattering theory using an approximate form of the Helm model form factor for the distributions of nucleons within nuclei. Without free parameters, the expression reproduces fairly well the proton total reaction cross section data at energies spanning 20–860 MeV. Excellent fits to the experimental data have been achieved using basically one free parameter, plus one other independent of beam energy.