Physics:Nuclear transparency

Nuclear transparency is the ratio of cross-sections for exclusive processes from the nuclei to those of the nucleons.

If a nuclear cross-section is denoted as [math]\displaystyle{ \sigma_N }[/math] and free nucleon cross-section as [math]\displaystyle{ \sigma_0 }[/math], then nuclear transparency can be defined as
[math]\displaystyle{ T= \sigma_N/A\sigma_0 }[/math], where [math]\displaystyle{ \sigma_N }[/math] can be parameterized in terms of [math]\displaystyle{ \sigma_0 }[/math] as [math]\displaystyle{ \sigma_N =A^\alpha \sigma_0 }[/math].

Therefore, transparency can be expressed as [math]\displaystyle{ T= A^{\alpha -1} }[/math].
Here, nucleon cross-section can be thought of as a hydrogen cross-section, and nuclei cross-section can be as for other targets.