Elastic scattering of {sup 16}O+{sup 16}O at energies E/A between 5 and 8 MeV

The elastic scattering of {sup 16}O+{sup 16}O has been measured at nine energies between E{sub lab}=75 and 124 MeV. The data cover up to 100 degree sign in the c.m. and can be described in terms of phenomenological and folding model potentials which reproduce the main features observed. In agreement with studies at higher energies in this and similar systems, refractive effects are present in the angular distributions at all energies. In particular, the passage of Airy minima through 90 degree sign at E{sub c.m.}=40, 47.5, and 62 MeV explains the deep minima observed in the excitation function. The real part of the optical potential is found to vary very little with energy over the studied interval, but the imaginary part shows a rapid change in its shape at incident energy about 90 MeV. Nonetheless, the energy dependence of the volume integral of the real and imaginary parts is in agreement with dispersion relation predictions. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.