Dependence of actinide production on the mass number of the projectile: Xe +248Cm.

Abstract

Production cross sections for actinide nuclides formed in the reactions of 791--769 MeV $^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$ and 817--793 MeV $^{132}\mathrm{Xe}$ with $^{248}\mathrm{Cm}$ were measured using radiochemical techniques to isolate elements 93 to 100 (Np to Fm). These results were compared with previous results from the reaction of 790--699 MeV $^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$ with $^{248}\mathrm{Cm}$. The production cross section distributions of target-like nuclides for a given Z appear to shift to smaller A with the use of the more neutron-deficient projectiles. The production of nuclides with Z>${Z}_{\mathrm{target}}$ increases at the expense of nuclides with Z${Z}_{\mathrm{target}}$ with use of the more neutron-deficient projectiles. The distribution of product cross sections from each reaction is treated as the sum of distributions of products from two reaction mechanisms, quasi-elastic transfer and deep inelastic transfer. Potential energy surfaces for the three reacting systems under discussion were calculated for touching sphere configurations and can be used to predict the production cross section trends. However, the peak position of the cross section distribution for a given Z is not accurately predicted by the potential energy surfaces, which suggests that deep inelastic transfer reactions may not be the dominant reaction mechanism, leading to the observed final distribution.