Theory

SUPER HEAVY ELEMENTS AT GANIL

 
     Some super-heavy elements are predicted to be metastable with a long radioactive period but have never been identified in nature. The motivation for their synthesis is ranging from the excitation to create new elements to eventually have some nuclei that are supposed to have a very low critical mass.

The synthesis of super-heavy elements by nuclear collisions is a difficult challenge, both experimentally and theoretically. Because we have to deal with very low cross-sections, it is not easy to compute the reaction. In addition, the interaction of the two nuclei in a contact configuration is not known though it is very important to simulate the fusion probability.

Our work on the subject is mainly focused on this fusion probability - the most unknown factor - for which we have derived simplified barrier penetration models based on dissipative diffusion theory and on a better understanding of the dissipation at the early stage of the reaction.

This work is done mainly on collaboration with the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics at Kyoto University (Japan) and also with the Physics department of Konan University at Kobe (Japan) and of Normal University at Beijing (China).

Contact: D. Boiley