Abstract
Superheavy elements are created in the laboratory by the fusion of two heavy nuclei. The large Coulomb repulsion that makes superheavy elements decay also makes the fusion process that forms them very unlikely. Instead, after sticking together for a short time, the two nuclei usually come apart, in a process called quasifission. Mass-angle distributions give the most direct information on the characteristics and time scales of quasifission. A systematic study of carefully chosen mass-angle distributions has provided information on the global trends of quasifission. Large deviations from these systematics reveal the major role played by the nuclear structure of the two colliding nuclei in determining the reaction outcome, and thus implicitly in hindering or favouring superheavy element production.
Highlights
Superheavy elements (SHE) are formed by heavy-ion fusion reactions
The kinematic coincidence technique used in the measurements [2, 3, 14] provides direct information on the mass-ratio of the fragments at scission; the data are represented in terms of mass ratio MR at scission, rather than pre- or post-evaporation masses of the fragments themselves, which cannot be uniquely determined by this method
Measured mass-angle distribution (MAD) and deduced quasifission sticking time distributions are shown in Fig. 1, for reactions forming the compound nucleus 234Cm [3]
Summary
Superheavy elements (SHE) are formed by heavy-ion fusion reactions. Their cross sections are significantly suppressed [1] by the quasifission process [2]. Measured MAD and deduced quasifission sticking time distributions are shown, for reactions forming the compound nucleus 234Cm [3]. For particular cases, we have found that detailed entrance channel properties are extremely important in determining the sticking times and MAD characteristics, including neutron richness [11, 15], and shell structure including static deformation [10] and magic numbers [11].
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