Capture cross sections for very heavy systems

In intermediate-mass systems, collective excitations of the target and projectile can greatly enhance the sub-barrier capture cross section σcap by giving rise to a distribution of Coulomb barriers. For such systems, capture essentially leads directly to fusion (formation of a compound nucleus (CN)), which then decays through the emission of light particles (neutrons, protons, and alpha particles). Thus the evaporation-residue (ER) cross section is essentially equal to σcap. For heavier systems the experimental situation is significantly more complicated due to the presence of quasifission (QF) (rapid separation into two fragments before the CN is formed) and by fusion-fission (FF) of the CN itself. Thus three cross sections need to be measured in order to evaluate σcap. Although the ER essentially recoil along the beam direction. QF and FF fragments are scattered to all angles and require the measurement of angular distribution in order to obtain the excitation function and barrier distribution for capture. Two other approaches to this problem exist. If QF is not important, one can still measure just the ER cross section and try to reconstruct the corresponding σcap through use of an evaporation-model code that takes account of the FF degree of freedom. Some earlier results on σcap obtained in this way will be re-analyzed with detail coupled-channels calculations, and the extra-push phenomenon discussed. One may also try to obtain σcap by exploiting unitarity, that is, by measuring instead the flux of particles corresponding to quasielastic (QE) scattering from the Coulomb barrier. Some new QE results obtained for the 86Kr + 208Pb system at iThemba LABS in South Africa will be presented