The finite size effects in fusion of deformed nuclei at incident energies near the barrier

By the end of the last century, the precision of heavy-ion-fusion cross-section measurement had been increased up to 1%. This allowed the measured cross sections to be converted into experimental fusion-barrier distributions. In the experimental analysis, the barrier distributions were analyzed using a Woods-Saxon shape for the nuclear part of the bare nucleus-nucleus potential. This potential was defined along the line joining the centers of the two nuclei ("centerline potential"), which, for deformed nuclei, contradicts the short-range character of the nucleon-nucleon (N N) nuclear interaction. We present the results of our theoretical study of the significant deviations of the simplified potential from a "realistic" nuclear potential. The finite-size effects on the potential for deformed nuclei were first investigated in an approximate geometrical way. Then a more rigorous approach, namely, a semimicroscopic double-folding model, was applied to calculate the nucleus-nucleus potential. The angle-dependent fusion barriers calculated with a simple delta-function-like exchange term of the N N M3Y interaction was found to be very similar to those calculated with a finite-range expression. This circumstance enables us to perform rather quick calculations of the fusion cross sections and the corresponding barrier distributions. Comparison of the results with the experimental data showed that the finite-size effects are substantial and cannot be ignored in a quantitative analysis of experimental fusion cross sections and barrier distributions.