Microscopic study of $^{16}$O+$^{16}$O fusion

TL;DR

This paper investigates the fusion of two oxygen-16 nuclei across various energies using advanced TDHF methods, successfully explaining experimental oscillations and barrier effects with detailed nuclear interaction modeling.

Contribution

It introduces comprehensive TDHF and density-constrained TDHF calculations to analyze $^{16}$O+$^{16}$O fusion across all energies, including the role of low-lying states.

Findings

Reproduces energy-dependent oscillations in fusion data

Explains oscillations as overcoming L-dependent barriers

Highlights the impact of octupole state coupling

Abstract

We perform a study of $^{16}$O+$^{16}$O fusion at above and below the interaction barrier energies using three-dimensional time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) calculations at above barrier energies and density-constrained TDHF calculations for the entire energy range. We discuss the variations of the experimental data at above the barrier energies. Calculations reasonably reproduce the observed energy-dependent broad oscillations in the fusion excitation functions. These oscillations result from overcoming $L$-dependent fusion barriers. The role of the coupling to low-lying octupole states is also discussed.