Retrieving Nuclear Information from Protons Propagating through a Thick Target

The multiple scattering of high-energy particles in a thick target is formulated in an impact parameter representation. A formalism similar but not identical to that of Molière is obtained. We show that calculations of particle beam broadening due to multiple Coulomb scattering alone can be given in closed form. The focus of this study is on whether or not the broadening of the Coulomb angular distribution prevents the retrieval of nuclear-interaction information from measuring the angular distributions of charged particles scattered from a thick target. For this purpose, we study multiple scatterings with both the nuclear and Coulomb interactions included and we do not make a small-angle expansion. Conditions for retrieving nuclear information from high-energy protons propagating through a block of material are obtained.