Elastic and quasi-elastic electron scattering off nuclei with neutron excess

We present theoretical predictions for electron scattering on oxygen and calcium isotopic chains. The calculations are done within the framework of the distorted-wave Born approximation and the proton and neutron density distributions are evaluated adopting a relativistic Dirac-Hartree model. We present results for the elastic and quasi-elastic cross sections and for the parity-violating asymmetry. As a first step, the results of the models are tested in comparison with some of the data available for elastic and quasi-elastic scattering on 16O and 40Ca nuclei. Then, the evolution of some nuclear properties is investigated as a function of the neutron number. We also present a comparison with the parity-violating asymmetry parameter obtained by the PREX Collaboration on 208Pb and give a prediction for the future experiment CREX on 48Ca.
Comment: 37 pages, 17 figures. version accepted for publication in the Physical Review C. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0809.4124 by other authors