Extending the Dispersive Optical Model to <i>β</i>-unstable Systems

Phenomenological optical-model potentials (OMPs) are a key ingredient for nuclear cross section libraries that enter astrophysical nucleosynthesis simulations. While existing OMPs can reliably reproduce direct reaction cross sections on β-stable targets, the lack of scattering data on β-unstable targets limits the credibility of OMPs extrapolated to the extremely neutron-rich regime reached during explosive nucleosynthesis. Recent work with fully non-local dispersive OMPs indicates that even in regions where scattering data are unavailable, bound-state quantities, such as the proton and neutron number and binding energy, can serve as powerful constraints on the OMP. In this proceeding, we describe first steps toward a global, non-local, uncertainty-quantified, and fully dispersive OMP capable of leveraging both scattering and bound-state observables from stability to the driplines. As an example, we show how single-nucleon scattering data on traditional OMP training nuclei 40,48 Ca, 90 Zr, 112,124 Sn, 208 Pb can be combined with structural information to improve neutron capture cross sections at astrophysical energies relevant for the i -process and weak r -process.