We investigate the use of proton-nucleus elastic scattering experiments using
secondary beams of 6He and 8He to determine the physical structure of these
nuclei. The sensitivity of these experiments to nuclear structure is examined
by using four different nuclear structure models with different spatial
features using a full-folding optical potential model. The results show that
elastic scattering at intermediate energies (<100 MeV per nucleon) is not a
good constraint to be used to determine features of structure. Therefore
researchers should look elsewhere to put constraints on the ground state wave
function of the 6He and 8He nuclei.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev.
