Translation invariance and antisymmetry in the theory of the nucleon optical model

Abstract

The first step in any formalism that aims to connect a many-nucleon theory of nucleon-nucleus scattering and the concept of an optical model potential in the sense pioneered by Feshbach is to explain what is meant by the optical model wavefunction. By definition this is a function of a single space coordinate plus a set of single nucleon internal variables. This article gives a critique of the definitio as it is frequently expressed in 2nd Quantisation language and suggest a new definition which is more consistent with the requirements of antisymmetry and translational invariance. A modification of the time-dependent Green's function formalism is suggested.