Comparison between chiral and meson-theoretic nucleon-nucleon potentials through (p,p') reactions

We use proton-nucleus reaction data at intermediate energies to test the emerging new generation of chiral nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials. Predictions from a high quality one-boson-exchange (OBE) force are used for comparison and evaluation. Both the chiral and OBE models fit NN phase shifts accurately, and the differences between the two forces for proton-induced reactions are small. A comparison to a chiral model with a less accurate NN description sets the scale for the ability of such models to work for nuclear reactions.