Heavy ion fusion with lead and bismuth targets.

The cold fusion reactions with lead and bismuth as targets were used in the synthesis of superheavy elements (SHE) with mass number up to 113. Researchers ignored the cold fusion reactions in the synthesis of SHE>113. This may be due to the improper choice of projectiles. The present study focusses on cold fusion reactions leading to the formation of SHE from Z = 112 to 126. Suitable projectiles for the fusion reaction using 208 Pb and 209 Bi targets were identified. The fusion and evaporation residue cross-sections are evaluated using advance statistical model. The produced cross-sections were compared with the available experiments. Suitable projectiles for synthesising the superheavy elements with Z = 104 –126 using lead and bismuth targets are predicted. The predicted production cross-sections vary from nanobarn (nb) to picobarn (pb). The use of spherical–spherical projectile and target yields larger cross-sections than spherical–deformed or deformed–spherical projectile and target combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]