Modified approach for accounting for dissipation in theoretical description of fusion of complex nuclei

TL;DR

This paper introduces a modified method for modeling dissipation in nuclear fusion, using a superfluid model for nuclear temperature, and finds it yields similar results to traditional models for specific reactions.

Contribution

It proposes a superfluid-based approach to account for dissipation in nuclear fusion, contrasting with the traditional Fermi-gas model.

Findings

Superfluid model results are similar to Fermi-gas model for 16O+92Zr fusion.

The new approach simplifies calculations without losing accuracy.

Fusion cross sections are consistent across models at studied energies.

Abstract

The process of fusion of complex nuclei is of significant interest as an example of the collective nuclear motion of large amplitude as well as a route for synthesis of new superheavy chemical elements. This process is accompanied by the dissipation of the energy of collective motion, at least at the last stage. The dissipative nature of fusion is accounted for in many theoretical approaches. In the present work, we propose a modified method for accounting for dissipation. The main idea is to use the superfluid model for evaluating nuclear temperature, not the Fermi-gas model like in previous approaches. The calculations of the fusion (capture) cross sections are performed for reaction 16O+92Zr at the collision energies ranging from 46 up to 70 MeV. For this reaction and at these conditions it turns out, that the more complicated superfluid model results in the cross sections which are indistinguishable from the ones obtained using the much simpler Fermi-gas model.