Systematics of heavy-ion fusion hindrance at extreme sub-barrier energies

Abstract

The recent discovery of hindrance in heavy-ion induced fusion reactions at extreme sub-barrier energies represents a challenge for theoretical models. Previously, it has been shown that in medium-heavy systems, the onset of fusion hindrance depends strongly on the ``stiffness'' of the nuclei in the entrance channel. In this work, we explore its dependence on the total mass and the Q-value of the fusing systems and find that the fusion hindrance depends in a systematic way on the entrance channel properties over a wide range of systems.