Foreword

Abstract

`FUSION97; International Workshop on Heavy-Ion Collisions at Near-Barrier Energies' was held at The Murramarang Resort, South Durras, New South Wales, Australia on March 17 - 21 1997. The conference was attended by 62 physicists from 12 countries. Topics ranging from low-energy fusion and fission processes, the relationship between reaction dynamics and nuclear spectroscopy studies, chaotic processes near the barrier, to physics with radioactive beams, highlighted the richness of the physics which can be investigated using nuclear reactions near the Coulomb barrier. A major theme of the conference was heavy-ion fusion at energies near the Coulomb barrier, with substantial emphasis on high-precision measurements to extract representations of fusion barrier distributions. The number of such measurements, in an increasing number of laboratories, and the unexpected and exciting results they are yielding have, we suspect, exceeded all expectations since the technique was first proposed at The Daresbury Workshop on Heavy-ion Collisions, in 1991. There were significant contributions on the study of quasi-elastic reactions in the same energy regime; the intimate relationship between these reactions and fusion was stressed throughout the proceedings and the need for an `experimenter friendly' coupled-channel code was a recurring theme. Whilst most of the experimental techniques discussed involved direct observation of particles (evaporation residues, fission fragments, transfer products etc), interesting uses of γ-ray spectroscopy techniques to probe reaction mechanisms were also presented. Other aspects of fusion and fission dynamics were presented, particularly in relation to understanding fission fragment angular distributions, the formation of superheavy nuclei and reactions with radioactive beams. Advances in theoretical descriptions of near-barrier reactions (many involving radioactive beams) were presented, ranging from microscopic approaches through various coupled-channel calculations, to a macroscopic/microscopic transport model describing superheavy element formation. Based on the papers presented and the discussions they engendered, there can be no doubt that nuclear reactions at energies near the Coulomb barrier is a subject of very great interest, destined to provide many more surprises in advancing our understanding of nuclei and their interactions. The favourable local environment and the regular evening wine `tasting' served to dramatically reduce the interaction barriers between participants. Together with the sunny beaches and friendly wildlife (kangaroos especially), the poetic soul of Professor R R Betts was stirred, during his conference summary, to transform Australia's unofficial anthem `Waltzing Matilda' into: Who'll Come A'Fusing Nuclei with Me Once a jolly physicist sat by a terminal Under the shade of the 14UD He sang as he sat and waited while the counts came in Who'll come a'fusing nuclei with me Along came a theorist to drink from the data stream He looked at the data and shouted with glee Plot your cross sections this way - you'll get D of B You'll come a'fusing nuclei with me Acknowledgments The Organizers would like to express their appreciation for support from: The Department of Nuclear Physics, ANU The Department of Theoretical Physics, ANU The Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering IOP Publishing, Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics Bicron Corporation Alphatech International Goodfellow Cambridge Limited We are grateful to Dr Richard Cresswell for his sterling efforts in establishing the Conference web page. Finally our thanks go to the Conference Secretariat, The Australian Convention and Travel Service, whose services removed the pain often associated with such organization.