Background The eikonal approximation is commonly used to calculate heavy-ion elastic scattering. However, the full evaluation has only been done (without the use of Monte Carlo techniques or additional approximations) for α − α scattering.Purpose Develop, improve and test the Monte Carlo eikonal method for elastic scattering over a wide range of nuclei, energies and angles.Method Monte Carlo evaluation is used to calculate heavy-ion elastic scattering including the center-of-mass correction and the Coulomb interaction.Results Angular distributions are presented for a number of nuclear pairs over a wide energy range using nucleon-nucleon scattering parameters taken from phase-shift analyses and densities from independent sources. A technique for the efficient expansion of the Glauber amplitude in partial waves is developed.
ConclusionThe center-of-mass and Coulomb corrections are essential. Angular distributions can be predicted only up to certain angles which vary with the nuclear pairs but all correspond to a momentum transfer near 1 fm −1 .