SELF-CONSISTENT RELATIVISTIC CALCULATION OF NUCLEON MEAN FREE-PATH

We present a fully self-consistent and relativistic calculation of the nucleon mean free path in nuclear matter and finite nuclei. Starting from the Bonn potential, the Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock results for nuclear matter are parametrized in terms of an effective sigma-omega L agrangian suitable for the relativistic density-dependent Hartree-Fock (RDHF) approximation. The nucleon mean free path in nuclear matter is derived from this effective Lagrangian taking diagrams up to fourth-o rder into account. For the nucleon mean free path in finite nuclei, we make use of the density determined by the RDHF calculation in the loc al density approximation. Our microscopic results are in good agreemen t with the empirical data and predictions by Dirac phenomenology.