SENSITIVITY OF REACTION CROSS-SECTIONS TO HALO NUCLEUS DENSITY DISTRIBUTIONS

Measurements of reaction cross sections are routinely used to deduce e ffective nuclear root mean square (rms) radii by comparison with theor etical model predictions. Cross sections calculated using the optical limit Glauber model depend strongly on the rms radius of the density a ssumed for the projectile nucleus. We investigate such calculations by assuming a range of projectile density distributions. We show that ca lculated Li-11-target cross sections at fixed rms radii retain a signi ficant sensitivity to higher radial moments of the projectile density which is quite different for light and heavy targets.