Comparisons of Global Phenomenological and Microscopic Optical Potentials for Nuclear Data Predictions

The chi-square (χ²) values, which represent the degree of agreement between the calculated total, nonelastic, and differential elastic cross sections and their experimental values, are calculated for seven kinds of optical potentials: the phenomenological optimal optical potential (OOP) for a specific element, the global phenomenological optical potentials given by Becchetti and Greenlees (BGP) and by Varner et al. (CH86) for a large number of target nuclei, and the microscopic optical potentials based on conventional Skyrme force (SII and SIII), generalized Skyrme force (GS2), and modified Skyrme force (SKa). Fourteen natural elements (each containing one to four isotopes) are calculated with 12 to 20 neutron incident energies, which are in the 0.1- to 24-MeV energy region for each element. The calculated average total chi-square values are = 0.309, = 0.807, = 0.684 = 0.600, = 0.646, = 2.587, and = 1–368. The conclusion is that the microscopic optical potential based on generalized and modified Skyrme force (GS2 and SKa), which has an analytical formalism without any free parameters, is useful in nuclear data calculation and evaluation.