Statistical tools for a better optical model*

In this work, we study three modern tools in the context of nuclear reactions with the goal of constraining the optical potential: i)  the principal component analysis; ii) the sensitivity analysis based on derivates; and iii) the Bayesian evidence. We first apply these tools to a toy case, comparing the form of the assumed optical potential. Then we consider two different reaction observables, elastic angular distributions and polarization data for reactions on ⁴⁸Ca and ²⁰⁸Pb each at two different beam energies. While our study with the principal component analysis did not offer insights, both the sensitivities and the Bayesian evidence prove to be useful in analyzing the optical model and associated data. We discuss the implications of our findings to the field.