Analyses of low-energy elastic scattering and fusion cross sections of 16O + 16O, 16O + 12C and 12C + 12C reactions with molecular potentials

A molecular (optical) potential is used to describe the general features of the low-energy fusion and elastic scattering cross sections for the astrophysically interesting reactions 16O + 16O, 16O + 12 C and 12C + 12C. While the imaginary part of the potential is energy-dependent, the real part is energy-independent and contains an exponential repulsive core. With basically two adjustable parameters determined by fitting the elastic scattering data, good agreement is obtained for the overall shape and magnitude of the fusion cross sections. The low-energy elastic scattering cross sections are also found to be very sensitive to the thickness of the core and the range of the attractive part of the potential. (Author)