Prediction of (p,n) Charge-Exchange Reactions with Uncertainty Quantification

Abstract

Background Charge-exchange reactions are a powerful tool for exploring nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics, however, a robust charge-exchange reaction theory with quantified uncertainties is essential to extracting reliable physics.Purpose The goal of this work is to determine the uncertainties due to optical potentials used in the theory for charge-exchange reactions to isobaric analogue states.Method We implement a two-body reaction model to study (p,n) charge-exchange transitions and perform a Bayesian analysis.We study the (p,n) reaction to the isobaric analog states of 14 C, 48 Ca, and 90 Zr targets over a range of beam energies. We compare predictions using standard phenomenological optical potentials with those obtained microscopically.Results Charge-exchange cross sections are reasonably reproduced by modern optical potentials. However, when uncertainties in the optical potentials are accounted for, the resulting predictions of charge-exchange cross sections have very large uncertainties.Conclusions The charge-exchange reaction cross section is strongly sensitive to the input interactions, making it a good candidate to further constrain nuclear forces and aspects of bulk nuclear matter. However, further constraints on the optical potentials are necessary for a robust connection between this tool and the underlying isovector properties of nuclei.