Abstract

We develop an approach for incorporating both medium and off-shell effects in the calculation of full-folding nucleon-nucleus optical potentials for elastic scattering. The approach is based on a flexible scheme for calculating the nucleon-nucleon effective interaction in the nuclear medium. Using this scheme, we calculate a fully off-shell, energy-dependent effective force which includes effects arising from Pauli blocking and the nuclear mean field via an interacting nuclear matter model. Calculations of the elastic scattering observables for p+Ca-40 and for p+Pb-208 at energies between 30 and 400 MeV are presented and discussed. We also study total cross sections for neutron scattering off Ca-40, Zr-90, and Pb-208 in the 5 - 400 MeV energy range. The theory gives a reasonable overall description of the data in the energy range under study.