Investigation of total reaction cross sections for proton-dripline nuclei F17 and Ne17 on a proton target

We measured the total reaction cross section (σR) for the proton-dripline nucleus ¹⁷F using a solid hydrogen target. Comparing the experimental results of ¹⁷F and ¹⁷Ne, σR on a proton target shows that the contribution of the isospin asymmetry of the nucleon-nucleon total cross section is more prominent than the changes in the nuclear radii of the two nuclei, while for a carbon target, the cross section simply reflects the nuclear matter radii of these isotopes, which are consistent with the results of previous theoretical works. The experimental values of σR for ¹⁷F on a proton target at energies of several tens MeV/nucleon (several hundreds MeV/nucleon) are smaller (larger) than the theoretical values of σR; similar trend is observed for ¹⁷Ne. This discrepancy is not resolved at this time; therefore, further studies of the experimental and theoretical sides are required to precisely understand nucleus-proton collisions.