A Monte-Carlo Intranuclear Cascade calculation for the propagation of energetic nucleons in the nucleus

We report the results of a basic Monte Carlo Intranuclear Cascade (INC) simulation calculation which has been developed for nuclear reaction calculations adopting a realistic Woods-Saxon-type nuclear density in order to investigate the propagation of energetic nucleons in nuclear medium. The results of the INC calculation are compared with those of inclusive proton inelastic scattering (p,p') and charge-exchange (p,n) reactions to study the systematics of the energy and the mass dependences of the reactions. The angle integrated (total) reaction spectra for proton inelastic scattering are very well reproduced over a wide dynamic range of emitted particles for all three of our targets, ¹²C, ²⁷Al, and ⁵⁶Fe, The INC calculation we have formulated reproduces the mass dependence very well without adjusting parameters. It also works successfully for the charge-exchange reaction, (p,n), but not as good as for the inelastic scattering, The energy dependence of the reaction cross-section has been checked with the charge-exchange reaction and has been reproduced reasonably well, but it began to deteriorate at the proton incident energy, ∼ 45 MeV. Overall, the INC calculation reproduces the total cross-sections of the (p,p') and the (p,n) reactions well over a wide range of beam energies and target masses, providing nice grounds for its application to various situations in which nuclear reactions are involved.