Unified description of the neutron−208Pb mean field between -20 and +165 MeV from the dispersion relation constraint

The real part of the central neutron${\mathrm{-}}^{208}$Pb mean field is the sum of a Hartree-Fock component plus a dispersive component. In keeping with theoretical expectations, the Hartree-Fock field is assumed to have a Woods-Saxon shape whose depth decreases exponentially with increasing energy and whose radius and diffuseness are independent of energy. The dispersive component is determined from the imaginary part of the optical-model potential by making use of the dispersion relation which connects these two quantities. The imaginary part is written as the sum of a volume and a surface-peaked contribution. The dispersion relation then implies that the real dispersive contribution is also the sum of volume and surface-peaked components. The parameters of the complex mean field are determined by fitting the available differential and polarization cross sections in the energy domain [4, 40 MeV] and the total cross sections in the domain [1,120 MeV]; these data are contained in previous published or unpublished reports, but new measurements of the total cross sections are presented from 1 to 25 MeV. Good fits to these cross sections, and also to unpublished total cross sections for energies up to 165 MeV, are obtained despite the fact that the number of adjusted parameters is quite small because of our use of the constraint implied by the dispersion relation.