Proton-Nucleus Scattering and the Nuclear Forward-Scattering Amplitude

It is possible to extract the nuclear part of the forward-scattering amplitude from small-angle proton-nucleus elastic scattering. The process is complicated in practice by the effects of experimental errors and theoretical approximations. Optical-model calculations are done, using 14.5-MeV protons on ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$, ${}_{}{}^{40}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ca}$, and ${}_{}{}^{90}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Zr}$, to examine the effects of these uncertainties on the determination of the nuclear forward amplitude.