Application of the kinetic equation method in the nuclear reaction theory

A review is made of a fairly limited class of the phenomena occurring under the interactions of medium-energy particles with atomic nuclei which can be described by the method of kinetic equations (MKE). Two types of models describing medium-energy nuclear interactions are discussed: 1) the quantum-mechanics models which include various methods for simulating a wave function (making possible to calculate, apart from the total cross section, the probabilities of the weak inelastic processes which involve effectively two or three particles); 2) intranuclear cascade model (ICM) simulating the nucleon distribution functions in the course of cascade development on the basis of classical concepts. The possibility of the MKE is examined in constructing a unified model permitting a proper description of the elastic scattering and the weak inelastic processes as well as of the developed cascade process, making allowance for the corrections due to the quantum effects. 15 figs., 37 refs