Adiabatic heavy-ion fusion potentials for fusion at deep sub-barrier energies

Abstract

The fusion cross sections from well above barrier to extreme sub-barrier energies have been analysed using the energy (E) and angular momentum (L) dependent barrier penetration model ({\small{ELDBPM}}). From this analysis, the adiabatic limits of fusion barriers have been determined for a wide range of heavy ion systems. The empirical prescription of Wilzynska and Wilzynski has been used with modified radius parameter and surface tension coefficient values consistent with the parameterization of the nuclear masses. The adiabatic fusion barriers calculated from this prescription are in good agreement with the adiabatic barriers deduced from {\small{ELDBPM}} fits to fusion data. The nuclear potential diffuseness is larger at adiabatic limit, resulting in a lower $\hbar\omega$ leading to increase of logarithmic slope observed at energies well below the barrier. The effective fusion barrier radius and curvature values are anomalously smaller than the predictions of known empirical prescriptions. A detailed comparison of the systematics of fusion barrier with and without L-dependence has been presented.