Fusion barrier distribution and superheavy elements

The barrier distribution, originated from channel coupling effects in heavy-ion fusion reactions, has been extracted experimentally for many systems using either a fusion excitation function or an excitation function of large-angle quasi-elastic scattering. In this article, we discuss an application of the latter method to the ⁴⁸Ca+²⁴⁸ Cm system, which is relevant to hot fusion reactions to synthesize superheavy elements. To this end, we carry out coupled-channels calculations for this system, taking into account the deformation of the target nucleus, and discuss the role of deformation in a formation of evaporation residues. (paper)