Connecting the nuclear EoS to the interplay between fusion and quasifission processes in low-energy nuclear reactions

TL;DR

This study uses the TDHF approach to analyze how various nuclear interaction parameters influence the competition between fusion and quasifission in low-energy heavy ion reactions, highlighting the dominant role of incompressibility, symmetry energy, and surface terms.

Contribution

It identifies the key nuclear effective interaction ingredients that determine the fusion versus quasifission outcome in low-energy nuclear reactions.

Findings

Incompressibility significantly affects reaction outcomes.

Symmetry energy influences the fusion-quasifission competition.

Surface terms also play a crucial role in reaction dynamics.

Abstract

Within the Time Dependent Hartree Fock (TDHF) approach, we investigate the impact of several ingredients of the nuclear effective interaction, such as incompressibility, symmetry energy, effective mass, derivative of the Lane potential and surface terms on the exit channel (fusion vs quasifission) observed in the reaction $^{238}$U+$^{40}$Ca, close to the Coulomb barrier. Our results show that all the ingredients listed above contribute to the competition between fusion and quasifission processes, however the leading role in determining the outcome of the reaction is played by incompressibility, symmetry energy and the isoscalar coefficient of the surface term. This study unravels the complexity of the fusion and quasifission reaction dynamics and helps to understand the microscopic processes responsible for the final outcome of low energy heavy ion collisions in terms of relevant features of the nuclear effective interaction and associated equation of state (EoS).