Model-unrestricted nucleus-nucleus scattering potentials from measurement and analysis of 16O + 16O scattering

The elastic scattering cross section for 16O ions on 16O targets has been measured with high accuracy over large angular ranges at incident energies from 250 to 704 MeV. From these data which sample both diffractive and refractive scattering processes, we extract the underlying scattering potentials using model-unrestricted analysis methods. The extracted potentials fit very well into the systematics found in light-ion scattering. The real potential parts also compare very favourably with microscopically calculated folding potentials based on a weak density-dependence of the underlying effective nucleon-nucleon interaction at large overlap densities.