Sub-barrier fusion reactions
Abstract
The concept of compound nucleus was proposed by Niels Bohr in 1936 to explain narrow resonances observed in scattering of a slow neutron off atomic nuclei. A compound nucleus is a metastable state with a long lifetime, in which all the degrees of freedom are in a sort of thermal equilibrium. Fusion reactions are defined as reactions to form such compound nucleus by merging two atomic nuclei. Here a short description of heavy-ion fusion reactions at energies close the Coulomb barrier is presented. This includes: (i) an overview of a fusion process, (ii) a strong interplay between nuclear structure and fusion, (iii) fusion and multi-dimensional/multi-particle quantum tunneling, and (iv) fusion for superheavy elements.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2201.08061,
title = {Sub-barrier fusion reactions},
author = {K. Hagino},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.08061},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
26 pages, 19 figures. Contribution to the "Handbook of Nuclear Physics", Springer, 2022, I. Tanihata, H. Toki and T. Kajino, eds