Role of neutron transfer in sub-barrier fusion
Rudra N. Sahoo, Malika Kaushik, Arshiya Sood, Arzoo Sharma, Swati Thakur, Pawan Kumar, Md. Moin Shaikh, Rohan Biswas, Abhishek Yadav, Manoj K. Sharma, J. Gehlot, S. Nath, N. Madhavan, R. G. Pillay, Э. М. Козулин, G. N. Knyazheva, K. V. Novikov, Pushpendra P. Singh
Abstract
The fusion excitation function of $^{35}\mathrm{Cl}+^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system has been measured in a wide energy range, i.e., ${E}_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=94--121.6$ MeV, from sub-barrier to above-barrier energies and compared with the $^{37}\mathrm{Cl}+^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system to investigate the role of neutron transfer channels in sub-barrier fusion cross-section enhancement. In comparison, the reduced fusion excitation function of $^{35}\mathrm{Cl}+^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system shows a significant enhancement over the $^{37}\mathrm{Cl}+^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system at sub-barrier energies. This enhancement is correlated with the presence of six positive $Q$-value neutron transfer channels in the $^{35}\mathrm{Cl}+^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system compared to none in the $^{37}\mathrm{Cl}+^{130}\mathrm{Te}$ system. Aiming to probe how fusion at sub-barrier energies responds to different coupling schemes, the excitation functions of both the systems have been analyzed in the framework of the coupled-channels approach on the same footing. The results and coupled-channels analysis presented in this work hints towards the importance of neutron transfer channels in sub-barrier fusion in addition to the inclusion of inelastic excitations of interacting partners. The findings of this work are discussed in light of the conclusions presented by Kohley et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 202701 (2011)], in which the role of positive $Q$-value neutron transfer channels in sub-barrier fusion was studied.