Abstract
In the search for superheavy elements quasifission reactions represent one of the reaction pathways that curtail the formation of an evaporation residue. In addition to its importance in these searches quasifission is also an interesting dynamic process that could assist our understanding of many-body dynamical shell effects and energy dissipation thus forming a gateway between deep-inelastic reactions and fission. This manuscript gives a summary of recent progress in microscopic calculations of quasifission employing time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory and its extensions.
Highlights
The ongoing search for discovering new elements in the superheavy regime is perhaps the most exciting but at the same time challenging tasks in low-energy nuclear physics [1]
Quasifission reactions have emerged as an interesting and vibrant area of research in recent years as they teach us about dynamical many-body effects at much longer time-scales compared to other heavy-ion reactions
The persistence of shell effects for these time-scales has opened the possibility to view quasifission as a doorway process to fusion-fission and perhaps even fission. This wide applicability positions quasifission as a vital process in understanding nuclear reactions across the board. In advancing toward this goal, the time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory and its extensions have emerged as an excellent theoretical tool to study these reactions
Summary
The ongoing search for discovering new elements in the superheavy regime is perhaps the most exciting but at the same time challenging tasks in low-energy nuclear physics [1]. The experimental search for the so called superheavy elements (SHE) was initially done by using target projectile combinations that minimized the excitation energy of compound nuclei that was formed in reactions studied in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier. The identification of a SHE is done through the decay properties of a formed evaporation residue In such reactions involving heavy elements the dominant reaction processes are quasifission (QF) and fusion-fission (FF), which are expected to strongly suppress the formation of an evaporation residue at higher excitation energies. To further pursue the hot fusion reactions with heavier projectiles to reach elements Z > 120 requires a deeper understanding of the reaction pathways leading to an evaporation residue, QF and FF components In all of these reactions the evaporation residue cross-section is dramatically reduced due to the quasifission (QF) and fusion-fission (FF) processes. This could provide a much cheaper way than fusion-fission to test the influence of 208Pb shell effects in super-asymmetric SHE fission
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