Formation of heavy compound nuclei, their survival, and correlation with longtime-scale fission

Fusion of two massive nuclei with formation of a superheavy compound nucleus is driven by the potential energy gradient, as follows from the analysis of nuclear reaction cross sections. The conservative energy of the system is deduced in a simple approximation using regularized nuclear mass and interaction barrier values. Different reactions for the synthesis of Z = 110−118 nuclei are compared and favorable conditions are found for fusion of the stable W-Pt isotopes with radioactive fission fragment projectiles, like 94Kr or 100Sr. Thus, the cold-fusion method can be extended for a synthesis of elements with Z > 113. Survival of the evaporation residue is defined by the neutron-to-fission probability ratio and by the successful emission of gammas at the final step of the reaction. Numerical estimates are presented. Fixation of evaporation residue products must correlate with longtime-scale fission, and available experimental results are discussed.