DIRAC COUPLED-CHANNEL CALCULATIONS FOR PROTON INELASTIC-SCATTERING FROM SPHERICALLY SYMMETRICAL NUCLEI FOR PROJECTILE ENERGIES OF 362, 500,AND 800 MEV

Coupled channel calculations for proton-nucleus inelastic scattering a re performed using the Dirac formalism. The inelastic scattering of 36 2, 500, and 800 MeV protons from Ca-40, Zr-90, and Pb-208 are consider ed. Transition potentials for the low-lying collective states are obta ined using a simple collective model. Phenomenological as well as para meter-free relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) optical potentials are used for the direct potentials. It is found that reasonable descr iptions of both elastic and inelastic observables are obtained. It is shown that the coupling to low-lying states greatly improves the agree ment with the large angle data.