CALCULATIONS OF CROSS SECTIONS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF SUPER-HEAVY NUCLEI IN COLD FUSION REACTIONS

The fusion cross sections are considered to be given by the product of three factors: the cross section to overcome the Coulomb barrier, the probability for the resulting system to reach the compound nucleus configuration by diffusion, and the probability for the compound nucleus to survive fission. The first and third factors are treated by more or less conventional equations, and the second by Brownian diffusion in one dimension. Adjusting one free parameter in the theory one can reproduce the twelve measured cross sections to within a factor of two.