Intimations of neck formation in heavy-ion subbarrier fusion reactions

Since the observed fusion cross sections for collisions between heavy ions at subbarrier energies are orders of magnitude larger than would be expected for barrier tunnelling, one is faced with the task of identifying the basic force which is strong enough to overcome the strong Coulomb force and bring about fusion. The two possibilities seem to be excursions of the nuclear surface (and strong nuclear force) due to collective motions of the colliding nuclei and formation of a neck of nuclear matter. The first possibility has received the most attention. However, the systematics of fusion cross sections suggest neck formation is playing an important role. Neck formation can also result in a reseparation of the composite system and we review the experimental information on these reactions at barrier and subbarrier energies. 15 refs., 18 figs