Abstract
A system of nonlinear equations is presented for the solution of the Cox–Thompson inverse scattering problem (1970 J. Math. Phys. 11 805) at fixed energy. From a given finite set of phase shifts for physical angular momenta, the nonlinear equations determine related sets of asymptotic normalization constants and nonphysical (shifted) angular momenta from which all quantities of interest, including the inversion potential itself, can be calculated. As a first application of the method we use input data consisting of a finite set of phase shifts calculated from Woods–Saxon and box potentials representing interactions with diffuse or sharp surfaces, respectively. The results for the inversion potentials, their first moments and asymptotic properties are compared with those provided by the Newton–Sabatier quantum inversion procedure. It is found that in order to achieve inversion potentials of similar quality, the Cox–Thompson method requires a smaller set of phase shifts than the Newton–Sabatier procedure.