Fusion hindrance and roles of shell effects in superheavy mass region Original Research Article

We present the first attempt of systematically investigating the effects of shell correction energy for a dynamical process, which includes fusion, fusion–fission and quasi-fission processes. In the superheavy mass region, for the fusion process, shell correction energy plays a very important role and enhances the fusion probability when the colliding partner has a strong shell structure. By analyzing the trajectory in three-dimensional coordinate space with the Langevin equation, we reveal the mechanism of the enhancement of the fusion probability caused by ‘cold fusion valleys’. The temperature dependence of shell correction energy is considered.