The complexity of nuclear interactions between heavy targets and projectiles can be effectively elucidated using the optical model. The phenomenological optical model usually adopts a Woods-Saxon form, and its geometrical parameters and depths, known as optical model potential (OMP) parameters, can significantly affect the reaction and scattering probabilities of interacting partners. These potentials are typically used to provide particle transmission coefficients for Hauser-Feshbach studies to estimate theoretical excitation functions. To examine the impact of variations in ejectile-residual nucleus OMP parameters on theoretical excitation functions, certain selected reaction systems have been chosen for the present work. Experimental excitation-function data have been taken from existing literature, and theoretical excitation functions have been predicted using the PACE4 for comparative analysis. Because of inherent ambiguities and the non-uniqueness of OMP parameters, different combinations of parameter statistics have been proposed by various authors for different mass ranges and incident energies. In the current study, different OMP parameter systematics have been utilized for the estimation of theoretical excitation functions for xn/pxn channels of the considered reaction systems having different target mass numbers & incident energy ranges of 4-7 MeV/nucleon. Results obtained strongly suggest that the appropriate choice of potential parameter systematics is essential for heavy-ion studies.
Ojha et al. (Fri,) studied this question.