Studies on excitation functions for the synthesis of heavy and superheavy elements in heavy ion fusion reactions

Nuclear fusion is the process by which two nucleus combine to form a heavier one. In the formation of superheavy elements (SHE), first the colliding nuclei must overcome the Coulomb barrier and captured by the target. Then the projectile and target will evolve from the contact point and form an excited compound nucleus (CN) and finally the compound nucleus cools down by the evaporation of neutrons to produce an evaporation residue (ER) rather than fission. Hence, the ER cross section or ER excitation functions is the product of the capture cross section, the CN formation probability, and the probability of the survival of the CN against fission. Therefore, it is very important to examine carefully these three steps in the study of the synthesis mechanism of superheavy nuclei. The main aim of the thesis work is to determine the factors that affect the production cross section, to find out the most suitable projectile and target, and to predict the maximum production cross section and corresponding energy for the synthesis of heavy and superheavy elements