Extensive systematizations of theoretical and experimental nuclear densities and of optical potential strengths extracted from heavy-ion elastic scattering data analyses at low and intermediate energies are presented. The energy dependence of the nuclear potential is accounted for within a model based on the nonlocal nature of the interaction. The systematics indicates that the heavy-ion nuclear potential can be described in a simple global way through a double-folding shape, which basically depends only on the density of nucleons of the partners in the collision. The possibility of extracting information about the nucleon-nucleon interaction from the heavy-ion potential is investigated.

We present a systematics for the octupole and quadrupole deformation parameters of heavy nuclei. We also provide useful procedures to calculate the Coulomb and nuclear potentials for systems involving deformed nuclei.

Precise elastic scattering differential cross sections have been measured for the 12 Cϩ 58 Ni, 208 Pb systems at sub-barrier energies. The corresponding bare potentials have been determined at interaction distances larger than the respective barrier radii, and the results have been compared with those from an early extensive systematics for the nuclear potential. The present data have been combined with others for the 12 C ϩ 12 C, 208 Pb systems at intermediate energies, in order to extract the 12 C ground-state nuclear density through an unfolding method.

Elastic scattering differential cross sections were measured for the 28 Siϩ 58 Ni system at sub-barrier energies. The corresponding nuclear potential was compared with earlier results of systems like Aϩ 58 Ni. The present data also allowed the determination of the 28 Si nuclear density through an unfolding method. The experimentally extracted 28 Si density values are compared with those previously obtained for the 4,6 He, 12 C, 16,18 O nuclei. We present a critical discussion of the absolute precision obtained for the density parameters extracted from the data analyses.

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