Interplay of neutron transfer and collective degrees of freedom in the fusion dynamics of 16O +76Ge and 18O +74Ge reactions

This work examined the fusion dynamics of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] reactions within the framework of the static Woods–Saxon potential model, the energy dependent Woods–Saxon potential (EDWSP) model and coupled channel formulation. The effects of inelastic surface excitations, static deformation of colliding pairs and /or neutron transfer channels on fusion process are investigated through the coupled channel method. The calculations based upon static Woods–Saxon potential in conjunction with one-dimensional Wong formula strongly under predict the fusion data of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] reactions at sub-barrier energies. However, such discrepancies are removed if one uses couplings to nuclear structure degrees of freedom of reacting nuclei. The coupled channel calculations obtained by considering the vibrational nature of the colliding nuclei fairly reproduce the fusion data of [Formula: see text] reactions. For this reaction, the neutron transfer channels, which are expected to influence strongly the fusion yields at below barrier energies, in reality contribute very weakly to fusion process. While in case of [Formula: see text] reaction, the consideration of vibrational couplings as well as the rotational couplings for target provides a reasonable explanation to the fusion cross-section data at near and above barrier energies. In distinction, the energy dependence in the nucleus–nucleus potential causes barrier modulation effects and subsequently modifies the barrier profile of the interaction barrier in such a way that the effective fusion barrier between the colliding pair reduces. This ultimately brings larger fusion cross-sections over the outcomes of one-dimensional barrier penetration model and the EDWSP model based calculations appreciably explained the fusion dynamics of chosen reaction at energy spanning around the Coulomb barrier. Both models (EDWSP and coupled channel model) lead to barrier lowering effects and modeled quantum tunneling in different way, henceforth, adequately explore the fusion dynamics of the studied reactions in near and above barrier energy regions.