Dirac phenomenology and the nuclear optical model

A Dirac equation based optical model treatment of proton‐nucleus scattering is discussed. Results obtained using a relativistic optical model consisting of Lorentz scalar and Lorentz four‐vector components are given. The parameters in the model have been varied to obtain high quality fits to elastic differential cross section, analyzing power, and spin rotation function measurements. Features of these Dirac optical model potentials are compared with various theoretical relativistic calculations.