High energy alpha scattering on nuclei

The theory of $\alpha$ particle scattering at high energies (in the GeV region) is reviewed and compared with the recent Saclay experiments. It is shown that the optical model of Czyz and Maximon has to be improved, some of the omitted multiple scattering terms being large. The effect of long or short range correlations is also examined and found to be less important than the previous corrections. These features are very likely to occur also for the scattering of two heavy nuclei, and the measurement of the elastic scattering of ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ on ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ or heavier double closed shell nuclei at energies above 300 MeV per nucleon is suggested.