Momentum-space treatment of Coulomb distortions in a multiple-scattering expansion

The momentum-space treatment of the Coulomb interaction within the framework of the Watson multiple-scattering expansion is derived and tested numerically. By neglecting virtual Coulomb excitations and higher-order terms, the lowest-order optical potential for proton-nucleus scattering is shown to be the sum of the convolutions of a two-body nucleon-nucleon t matrix with the nuclear density and the point Coulomb interaction with the nuclear charge density. The calculation of the optical potential, as well as the treatment of the Coulomb interaction, is performed entirely in momentum space in an exact and numerically stable procedure. Elastic-scattering observables are presented for ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$, ${}_{}{}^{40}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ca}$, and ${}_{}{}^{208}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Pb}$ at energies up to 500 MeV. Comparisons are made with approximate treatments of the Coulomb interaction. The interference of nonlocality effects in the nuclear optical potential with different treatments of the Coulomb interaction is investigated.