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$α$-nucleus optical potentials from chiral effective field theory $NN$ interactions

We present a determination of optical potentials for $^4$He-target collisions using the double-folding method. We use chiral effective field theory nucleon-nucleon interactions at next-to-next-to-leading order combined with state-of-the-art nucleonic densities. The imaginary part of the optical potential is obtained from the real double-folding interaction either through a proportionality constant or applying Kramers-Kronig dispersion relations. With these potentials, we compute the elastic scattering of $^4$He off various targets, from $^4$He to $^{120}$Sn. We study the sensitivity of our predicted cross sections to the choice of nucleon-nucleon interactions and nuclear densities. Very good agreement is obtained with existing elastic-scattering data for $^4$He energies between 100 and 400 MeV.