Subbarrier fusion of carbon isotopes: from resonance structure to fusion oscillations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the fusion behavior of carbon isotopes at subbarrier energies, explaining resonance structures and oscillations through an optical potential model linked to level densities and quantum effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical potential approach that accounts for resonance structures and fusion oscillations in carbon isotope systems, connecting these phenomena to level densities and quantum mechanics.

Findings

Reproduces resonance structures in $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C fusion excitation functions.

Explains smooth behavior in $^{12}$C+$^{13}$C fusion data.

Links fusion oscillations to quantum effects in identical particles.

Abstract

At energies below the Coulomb barrier, the fusion excitation function for the $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C system shows prominent fine structures, whereas that for the $^{12}$C+$^{13}$C system behaves more smoothly as a function of energy. We demonstrate that these different behaviors can be simultaneously reproduced using an optical potential in which the strength of the imaginary part is proportional to the level density of each compound nucleus. We also discuss the oscillatory behavior of fusion excitation function for these systems observed at energies above the Coulomb barrier from a view point of quantum mechanical systems with identical particles.