Sensitivity of quasifission dynamics to the nuclear symmetry energy in 48Ca+249Cf
Abstract
We present a systematic study of the sensitivity of quasifission dynamics to the nuclear symmetry energy in the 48Ca~+~249Cf system, the reaction used for the synthesis of oganesson (Z = 118), spanning the full range of target orientations and angular momenta. Employing time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) calculations with four Skyrme parameterizations from the SV family that systematically vary the symmetry energy at saturation (asym = 28--$34$~MeV), we perform over 500 TDHF trajectories spanning angular momenta L = 0--100ℏ and twelve orientations of the prolate-deformed 249Cf target (β= 0∘--165∘ in 15∘ steps). Shell effects in the quasifission fragments are dominated by a deformed--deformed channel: the light fragment clusters near the prolate-deformed Z ≈ 40, N ≈ 58 shell region (Zr/Sr), and the complementary heavy fragment populates the shape-coexistence region near Z ≈ 78, N ≈ 121 (Os/Pt). This channel accounts for $34−−48\%$ of quasifission events and is geometrically incompatible with the spherical Z = 82, N = 126 closures, which are populated only at shorter contact times. The balance between the deformed and near-spherical channels depends on the symmetry energy parameterization. These results demonstrate that quasifission observables in superheavy element formation reactions carry quantifiable sensitivity to the isovector sector of the nuclear energy density functional.
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BibTeX
@misc{ross2026sensitivity,
title = {{Sensitivity of quasifission dynamics to the nuclear symmetry energy in $^48$Ca+$^249$Cf}},
author = {C. Ross and R. Gumbel and K. Godbey and A. S. Umar},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.29830},
eprint = {2609.29830},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.29830},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sensitivity of quasifission dynamics to the nuclear symmetry energy in ^48Ca+^249Cf
AU - C. Ross
AU - R. Gumbel
AU - K. Godbey
AU - A. S. Umar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.29830
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.29830
AB - We present a systematic study of the sensitivity of quasifission dynamics to the nuclear symmetry energy in the ^48Ca~+~^249Cf system, the reaction used for the synthesis of oganesson (Z = 118), spanning the full range of target orientations and angular momenta. Employing time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) calculations with four Skyrme parameterizations from the SV family that systematically vary the symmetry energy at saturation (a_sym = 28--$34$~MeV), we perform over 500 TDHF trajectories spanning angular momenta L = 0--100ℏ and twelve orientations of the prolate-deformed ^249Cf target (β= 0^∘--165^∘ in 15^∘ steps). Shell effects in the quasifission fragments are dominated by a deformed--deformed channel: the light fragment clusters near the prolate-deformed Z ≈ 40, N ≈ 58 shell region (Zr/Sr), and the complementary heavy fragment populates the shape-coexistence region near Z ≈ 78, N ≈ 121 (Os/Pt). This channel accounts for $34−−48\%$ of quasifission events and is geometrically incompatible with the spherical Z = 82, N = 126 closures, which are populated only at shorter contact times. The balance between the deformed and near-spherical channels depends on the symmetry energy parameterization. These results demonstrate that quasifission observables in superheavy element formation reactions carry quantifiable sensitivity to the isovector sector of the nuclear energy density functional.
ER -