Production of heavy and superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the framework of a dinuclear system (DNS) model, the evaporation-residue excitation functions and the quasi-fission mass yields in the 48Ca induced fusion reactions are investigated systematically and compared with available experimental data. Maximal production cross sections of superheavy nuclei based on stable actinide targets are obtained. Isotopic trends in the production of the superheavy elements Z = 110, 112–118 based on the actinide isotopic targets are analyzed systematically. Optimal evaporation channels and combinations as well as the corresponding excitation energies are proposed. The possible factors that influencing the isotopic dependence of the production cross sections are analyzed. The formation of the superheavy nuclei based on the isotopes U with different projectiles are also investigated and calculated.

Production mechanism of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the concept of the dinuclear system (DNS), a dynamical model is proposed for describing the formation of superheavy nuclei in complete fusion reactions by incorporating the coupling of the relative motion to the nucleon transfer process. The capture of two heavy colliding nuclei, the formation of the compound nucleus and the de-excitation process are calculated by using an empirical coupled channel model, solving a set of microscopically derived master equations numerically and applying statistical theory, respectively.Fusion-fission reactions and evaporation residue excitation functions of synthesizing superheavy nuclei (SHN)are investigated systematically and compared them with available experimental data. The possible factors that affecting the production cross sections of SHN are discussed in this workshop.

Neutron and proton diffusion in fusion reactions for the synthesis of superheavy nuclei

The restriction of the one dimensional (1D) master equation (ME) with the mass number of the projectile-like fragment as a variable is studied, and a two-dimensional (2D) master equation with the neutron and proton numbers as independent variables is set up, and solved numerically. Our study showed that the 2D ME can describe the fusion process well in all projectile-target combinations. Therefore the possible channels to synthesize super-heavy nuclei can be studied correctly in wider possibilities. The available condition for employing 1D ME is pointed out.

Dynamical analysis on heavy-ion fusion reactions near Coulomb barrier

The shell correction is proposed in the improved isospin dependent quantum molecular dynamics (Im-IQMD) model, which plays an important role in heavy-ion fusion reactions near Coulomb barrier. By using the ImIQMD model, the static and dynamical fusion barriers, dynamical barrier distribution in the fusion reactions are analyzed systematically. The fusion and capture excitation functions for a series of reaction systems are calculated and compared with experimental data. It is found that the fusion cross sections for neutron-rich systems increase obviously, and the strong shell effects of two colliding nuclei result in a decrease of the fusion cross sections at the sub-barrier energies. The lowering of the dynamical fusion barriers favors the enhancement of the sub-barrier fusion cross sections, which is related to the nucleon transfer and the neck formation in the fusion reactions.

Formation of superheavy nuclei in cold fusion reactions

Within the concept of the dinuclear system (DNS), a dynamical model is proposed for describing the formation of superheavy nuclei in complete fusion reactions by incorporating the coupling of the relative motion to the nucleon transfer process. The capture of two heavy colliding nuclei, the formation of the compound nucleus, and the de-excitation process are calculated by using an empirical coupled channel model, solving a master equation numerically and applying statistical theory, respectively. Evaporation residue excitation functions in cold fusion reactions are investigated systematically and compared with available experimental data. Maximal production cross sections of superheavy nuclei in cold fusion reactions with stable neutron-rich projectiles are obtained. Isotopic trends in the production of the superheavy elements Z=110, 112, 114, 116, 118, and 120 are analyzed systematically. Optimal combinations and the corresponding excitation energies are proposed.

Isotopic dependence of production cross sections of superheavy nuclei in hot fusion reactions

The dinuclear system model has been further developed by introducing the barrier distribution function method in the process of heavy-ion capture and fusion to synthesize superheavy nuclei. The capture of two colliding nuclei, formation and de-excitation process of compound nucleus are decribed by using empirical coupled channel model, solving master equation numerically and statistical evaporation model, respectively. Within the framework of the dinuclear system model, the fusion-evaporation excitation functions of the systems Ca-48(Am-243, 3n-5n) (288-286)115 and Ca-48(Cm-248, 3n-5n)(293-291)116 are calculated, which are used for synthesizing new superheavy nuclei at Dubna in recent years. Isotopic dependence of production cross sections with double magic nucleus Ca-48 bombarding actinide targets U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm to synthesize superheavy nuclei with charged numbers Z=112-116 is analyzed systematically. Based on these analysis, the optimal projectile-target combination and the optimal excitation energy are proposed. It is shown that shell correction energy and neutron separation energy will play an important role on the isotopic dependence of production cross sections of superheavy nuclei.

Study on dynamic fusion barrier in heavy-ion fusion reactions

By means of the improved quantum molecular dynamics model, the incident energy dependent dynamical fusion potential barriers for heavy nucleus reaction systems are investigated. It is found that with decrease of incident energy the lowest dynamic barrier is obtained which approaches to the adiabatic static barrier and with increase of the incident energy the dynamic barrier goes up to the diabatic static barrier. Based on the dynamical study a microscopic understanding of the extra-push in fusion reactions of heavy systems and a new explanation of tunneling process for the fusion at the incident energy below the static and above the lowest dynamic barrier are presented. In order to understand the energy dependence of the dynamical barrier we also pay a great attention to study the neck formation and shape deformation during the dynamic lowering of the barrier.

Production of Superheavy Nuclei in Massive fusion reactions

A master equation is constructed to treat the nucleon transfer process in heavy ion fusion reactions to form superheavy nucleus. The relative motion concerning the energy, the angular momentum and the fragment deformation relaxations is explicitly treated to couple with the diffusion process. The nucleon transition probabilities, which are derived microscopically, are thus time dependent. The calculated evaporation residue cross-sections for both cold and hot fusion are in good agreement with the known experimental data.

Production mechanism of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the concept of the dinuclear system (DNS), a dynamical model is used for describing the formation of superheavy residues in massive fusion reactions, in which the capture of two colliding nuclei, the formation and de-excitation of the compound nucleus are described by using a barrier distribution method, solving master equations numerically and statistical approach, respectively. Using the DNS model, the production cross sections of superheavy nuclei are calculated and compared with the available experimental data. The isotopic dependence of the cross sections to produce the superheavy element Z=116 by the two types of the reactions is discussed and the possible reasons influencing the isotopic trends are analyzed systematically.

Influence of entrance channels on the formation of superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the framework of the dinuclear system (DNS) model, the production cross sections of superheavy nuclei Hs (Z=108) and Z=112 combined with different reaction systems are analyzed systematically. It is found that the mass asymmetries and the reaction Q values of the projectile target combinations play a very important role on the formation cross sections of the evaporation residues. Both methods to obtain the fusion probability by nucleon transfer by solving a set of microscopically derived master equations along the mass asymmetry degree of freedom (ID) and distinguishing protons and neutrons of fragments (2D) are compared with each other and also with the available experimental data. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Astrophysical S factors for fusion reactions involving C, O, Ne, and Mg isotopes

Using the Sao Paulo potential and the barrier penetration formalism we have calculated the astrophysical factor S(E) for 946 fusion reactions involving stable and neutron-rich isotopes of C, O, Ne, and Mg for center-of-mass energies E varying from 2 to approximate to 18-30 MeV (covering the range below and above the Coulomb barrier). We have parameterized the energy dependence, S(E), by an accurate universal 9-parameter analytic expression and present tables of fit parameters for all the reactions. We also discuss the reduced 3-parameter version of our fit which is highly accurate at energies below the Coulomb barrier, and outline the procedure for calculating the reaction rates. The results can be easily converted to thermonuclear or pycnonuclear reaction rates to simulate various nuclear burning phenomena, in particular, stellar burning at high temperatures and nucleosynthesis in high density environments. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Dynamic effects of breakup on fusion reactions of weakly bound nuclei

The traditional reduction methods to represent the fusion cross sections of different systems are flawed when attempting to completely eliminate the geometrical aspects, such as the heights and radii of the barriers, and the static effects associated with the excess neutrons or protons in weakly bound nuclei. We remedy this by introducing a new dimensionless universal function, which allows the separation and disentanglement of the static and dynamic aspects of the breakup coupling effects connected with the excess nucleons. Applying this new reduction procedure to fusion data of several weakly bound systems, we find a systematic suppression of complete fusion above the Coulomb barrier and enhancement below it. Different behaviors are found for the total fusion cross sections. They are appreciably suppressed in collisions of neutron-halo nuclei, while they are practically not affected by the breakup coupling in cases of stable weakly bound nuclei. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.