Folding model study of the charge-exchange scattering to the isobaric analog state and implication for the nuclear symmetry energy

The Fermi transition (ΔL = ΔS = 0 and ΔT = 1) between the nuclear isobaric analog states (IAS), induced by the charge-exchange (p, n) or (3He, t) reaction, can be considered as ''elastic'' scattering of proton or 3He by the isovector term of the optical potential (OP) that flips the projectile isospin. The accurately measured (p, n) or (3He, t) scattering cross section to the IAS can be used, therefore, to probe the isospin dependence of the proton or 3He optical potential. Within the folding model, the isovector part of the OP is determined exclusively by the neutron-proton difference in the nuclear densities and the isospin dependence of the effective nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction. Because the isovector coupling explicitly links the isovector part of the proton or 3He optical potential to the cross section of the charge-exchange (p, n) or (3He, t) scattering to the IAS, the isospin dependence of the effective (in-medium) NN interaction can be well tested in the folding model analysis of these charge-exchange reactions. On the other hand, the same isospin- and density-dependent NN interaction can also be used in a Hartree-Fock calculation of asymmetric nuclear matter, to estimate the nuclear matter energy and its asymmetry part (the nuclear symmetry energy). As a result, the fine-tuning of the isospin dependence of the effective NN interaction against the measured (p, n) or (3He, t) cross sections should allow us to make some realistic prediction of the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence. (orig.)