THE 90-DEGREES EXCITATION-FUNCTION FOR ELASTIC C-12+C-12 SCATTERING - THE IMPORTANCE OF AIRY ELEPHANTS

The 90-degrees excitation function for elastic C-12 + C-12 scattering, at laboratory energies between the Coulomb barrier and 130 MeV, exhibits a complex structure of peaks and valleys whose nature has remained an unsolved mystery for more than 20 years. The problem has primarily been caused by the difficulty of choosing from a plethora of discretely ambiguous optical potentials. However, data accumulated above 150 MeV over the last decade have determined unique potentials at these higher energies,and the requirement of continuity downward in energy has recently permitted the determination of a unique set of potentials for angular distributions at energies below 130 MeV, where the excitation-function data exist. These new potentials are used to provide a mean-field (i.e., nonresonant) interpretation of the structure in the C-12 + C-12 90-degrees excitation function between 70 and 130 MeV. Its most prominent minima are found to be Airy minima from nuclear rainbows, with the remaining structure arising primarily from more elementary optical phenomena related to Fraunhofer diffraction. These same potentials are also successful in explaining the details of excitation functions measured very recently at other angles by Morsad.