Do Quasifree Reaction Mechanisms Explain Reaction Cross Sections in Intermediate-Energy Proton-Nucleus Scattering?

Abstract

The 800-MeV ($p, {p}^{\ensuremath{'}}$) inclusive proton spectra at forward angles are considered. A plane-wave impulse approximation is used to calculate quasifree nucleon knockout and quasifree isobar production. When the quasifree peaks are normalized to data, it is found that the integrated cross section for the two processes can account for the total reaction cross section.