Elastic scattering, fusion, and breakup of light exotic nuclei

Abstract

Abstract. The present status of fusion reactions involving light (A < 20) radioactive projectiles at energies around the Coulomb barrier (E < 10 MeV per nucleon) is reviewed, emphasizing measurements made within the last decade. Data on elastic scattering (providing total reaction cross section information) and breakup channels for the involved systems, demonstrating the relationship between these and the fusion channel, are also reviewed. Similarities and differences in the behavior of fusion and total reaction cross section data concerning halo nuclei, weakly-bound but less exotic projectiles, and strongly-bound systems are discussed. One difference in the behavior of fusion excitation functions near the Coulomb barrier seems to emerge between neutron-halo and proton-halo systems. The role of charge has been investigated by comparing the fusion excitation functions, properly scaled, for different neutron-and proton-rich systems. Possible physical explanations for the observed differences are also reviewed.

B8+Al27 scattering at low energies

“…The scattering of nuclei away from the nuclear stability line has been one of the principal fields of research in lowenergy nuclear physics over the last decades [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. As one moves away from the valley of stability we find the socalled exotic nuclei which often have several interesting properties.…”

“…The lack of stable A=5,8 nuclei is a barrier to the nucleosynthesis of heavier elements. The doublet of mirror nuclei 8 Li (T 1/2 = 839.9ms) and 8 B (T 1/2 = 770ms) is unstable by beta emission and both decay to 8 Be which immediately decays into two alpha particles. However, due to the their relatively long life- * vivianemorcelle@gmail.com times, the presence of A=8 nuclei in certain astrophysical sites could provide paths for the nucleosynthesis to proceed further to the formation of heavier elements.…”

Sub-barrier fusion of weakly bound Li6 with Ni58

“…It is important to point out that direct cluster transfer (DCT) of α, d, 3 He or t could also lead to the same compound systems as ICF with such clusters. We will discuss first the case of clusters α and d. The excitation energies of the respective compound systems, which can be estimated as described in the previous section for the case of proton-transfer (see also Ref.…”

Near and sub-barrier reactions of 8B

“…As a result there is only a rather limited literature on reactions, such as complete and incomplete fusion, which turn out to be very important for achieving a complete understanding of the exotic structure of these nuclei (see Ref. [1] and references therein). Four different types of relevant experiments can be identified and ranked according to their relative degree of difficulty.…”

“…Other examples are discussed in Ref. [1]. The third category, most relevant for this conference, is fusion.…”