Spin structure of light nuclei related to nucleon-nucleus elastic scattering

We discuss recent work related to the calculation of \textit{ab initio} microscopic effective interactions for elastic nucleon-nucleus scattering. In the framework of the spectator expansion of the multiple scattering series, we can construct a leading-order consistent effective interaction that includes information about the spin of the struck nucleon. Using one-body densities from the no-core shell model, we are able to examine the spin structure of the target $0^+$ nucleus and investigate the effects of the underlying shell structure on the resulting effective interaction as well as physical observables. With a focus on differences along isotopic chains, we present results for light nuclei and discuss the relevant physics.