MICROSCOPIC THEORY OF THE TOTAL REACTION CROSS-SECTION AND APPLICATION TO STABLE AND EXOTIC NUCLEI

The multiple scattering theory is used to develop a theoretical framework for the calculation of the heavy-ion total reaction cross section. Several important medium effects such as Pauli blocking, are included. The second-order double-scattering contribution to the ion-ion t-rho-1-rho-2 interaction is calculated and found to contribute at most an effect of 10% on sigma-R. It is found that, whereas at intermediate energies the t-rho-1-rho-2 accounts reasonably well for the total reaction cross section, indicating the predominance of single-nucleon knockout at these energies, it underestimates sigma-R at lower energies by a large amount. This is mainly due to the absence in t-rho-1-rho-2 of fusion and inelastic surface excitation. The case of exotic (neutron- and proton-rich) nuclei is also discussed.