Elastic and quasielastic scattering of {sup 8}He from {sup 12}C

We present new calculations and experimental measurements of the quasielastic cross section angular distribution for {sup 8}He scattering from {sup 12}C at 60 MeV/nucleon. {sup 8}He is treated as a five-body {alpha}+4n system and the six-body {sup 8}He+target scattering calculations make use of the eikonal few-body method and the cluster orbital shell model approximation for the {sup 8}He wave function. The qualitative features of the new data are successfully described without parameter variation. The sensitivity of the calculations to correlations in the {sup 8}He wave function is assessed. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}