Reaction Cross Sections and α-Cluster Geometry in 12C and Be Isotopes
Abstract
Reaction cross sections σR are widely used to infer matter radii, yet their sensitivity to nuclear structure beyond radial one-body distributions is less well understood. We combine complete A-body nucleon configurations sampled from \textit{ab initio} nuclear lattice effective field theory (NLEFT) with event-by-event Monte Carlo Glauber calculations, thereby retaining the many-body correlations encoded in NLEFT. Using a fixed binary-collision prescription determined by the measured energy- and isospin-dependent total nucleon-nucleon cross sections, the calculations capture the overall magnitudes and energy dependence simultaneously for the available data on 12C and 9Be projectiles on carbon and hydrogen. Controlled randomization of angular correlations at fixed matter root-mean-square radius and spherically averaged one-body radial density produces only a weak change in σR for 12C but approximately a 10% increase for 9Be+1H. The calculations also capture the measured rise--plateau--sharp-rise--reduction trend across 7,9−−12Be, a distinctive pattern reflecting the evolution of cluster and halo structures along the isotopic chain. These results show that σR retains sensitivity to intrinsic many-body geometry beyond a single inferred matter radius, opening a route to studies of exotic α-cluster geometries and spatial nucleon correlations through reaction cross sections.
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BibTeX
@misc{wu2026reaction,
title = {{Reaction Cross Sections and $α$-Cluster Geometry in $^12$C and Be Isotopes}},
author = {Tianyu Wu and Baohua Sun and Ulf-G. Meißner and Shihang Shen},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.18538},
eprint = {2608.18538},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.18538},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Reaction Cross Sections and α-Cluster Geometry in ^12C and Be Isotopes
AU - Tianyu Wu
AU - Baohua Sun
AU - Ulf-G. Meißner
AU - Shihang Shen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.18538
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.18538
AB - Reaction cross sections σ_R are widely used to infer matter radii, yet their sensitivity to nuclear structure beyond radial one-body distributions is less well understood. We combine complete A-body nucleon configurations sampled from \textit{ab initio} nuclear lattice effective field theory (NLEFT) with event-by-event Monte Carlo Glauber calculations, thereby retaining the many-body correlations encoded in NLEFT. Using a fixed binary-collision prescription determined by the measured energy- and isospin-dependent total nucleon-nucleon cross sections, the calculations capture the overall magnitudes and energy dependence simultaneously for the available data on ^12C and ^9Be projectiles on carbon and hydrogen. Controlled randomization of angular correlations at fixed matter root-mean-square radius and spherically averaged one-body radial density produces only a weak change in σ_R for ^12C but approximately a 10% increase for ^9Be+^1H. The calculations also capture the measured rise--plateau--sharp-rise--reduction trend across ^7,9−−12Be, a distinctive pattern reflecting the evolution of cluster and halo structures along the isotopic chain. These results show that σ_R retains sensitivity to intrinsic many-body geometry beyond a single inferred matter radius, opening a route to studies of exotic α-cluster geometries and spatial nucleon correlations through reaction cross sections.
ER -