Abstract
The synthesis of superheavy elements beyond oganesson (Og), which has atomic number Z = 118, is currently one of the main topics in nuclear physics. An absence of sufficient amounts of target material with atomic numbers heavier than californium (Z = 98) forces the use of projectiles heavier than 48 Ca (Z = 20), which has been successfully used for the discoveries of elements with Z = 114 - 118 in complete fusion reactions. Experimental cross sections of 48 Ca with actinide targets behave very differently to “cold” and “hot” fusion-evaporation reactions, where doubly-magic lead and deformed actinides are used as targets, respectively. The known cross sections of these reactions have been analysed compared to calculated fission barriers. It has been suggested that observed discrepancies between the cross sections of 48 Ca-induced and other fusionevaporation reactions originate from the shell structure of the compound nucleus, which lies in the island of the stability. Besides scarcely known data on other reactions involving heavier projectiles, the most promising projectile for the synthesis of the elements beyond Og seems to be 50 Ti. However, detailed studies of 50 Ti, 54 Cr, 58 Fe and 64 Ni-induced reactions are necessary to be performed in order to fully understand the complexities of superheavy element formation.
Highlights
The search for “hypothetical” nuclei from the island of stability, referred to as superheavy nuclei (SHN), which are predicted to be located at around proton number Z = 114 and neutron number N = 184 according to most theoretical calculations [1,2,3], is the one of the main goals of fundamental nuclear physics research
Since all of the SHN have been exclusively produced in fusion-evaporation reactions, their experimental cross sections may provide an important information on the preferable choice of projectile and target combinations for the synthesis of the as yet unknown SHN
The compiled evaporation residue (ER) cross sections of three different types of fusion-evaporation reaction were comparatively analysed relative to the calculated fission barriers (∼ survival probability) from three different theoretical models
Summary
Several attempts to synthesize the element with Z = 120 have already been carried out using 64Ni+238U [17], 58Fe+244Pu [18], 54Cr+248Cm [19], and 50Ti+249Cf [20] reactions None of these studies reported observation of the element with Z = 120, despite reaching sensitivity levels that would be sufficient to detect at least one event from any of the known 48Ca-induced reactions. A compilation of the known data on ER cross sections of the above mentioned reactions were performed and tested for a presence of any systematic trends This would help to understand the discrepancy in the case of 48Ca, and may be useful for the selection of preferable projectile and target combinations leading to elements beyond Og
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