Nuclear cross sections from low-energy interactions

We present a method to calculate neutron scattering cross sections for deformed nuclei using many-body wave functions described with multiple reference states. Nuclear states are calculated with the generator coordinate method using a low energy effective Hamiltonian. Using these states, a nonlocal and energy dependent optical potential is consistently constructed, allowing one to directly investigate the role of nuclear structure properties in nuclear scattering. The case of neutron scattering on <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <a:mmultiscripts> <a:mi>Mg</a:mi> <a:mprescripts/> <a:none/> <a:mn>24</a:mn> </a:mmultiscripts> </a:math> is presented. The results are compared to experiment and to phenomenological optical potentials at energies below 13 MeV, demonstrating the importance of low-energy collectivity in elastic and nonelastic scattering.