The examination of the ¹²C + ²⁴Mg elastic scattering around the Coulomb barrier

Abstract

The investigation of nuclear reactions near the Coulomb barrier poses a number of problematic issues which have remained unsolved for a long time: The out-of-phase problem between theoretical predictions and experimental data, the reproduction of the oscillatory structure near the Coulomb barrier, and the consistent description of angular distributions together with the excitation functions data are just some of these issues. To address and overcome them, we examine the elastic scattering of the ¹²C + ²⁴Mg system within the framework of the optical model with two small potentials in addition to the nuclear potential. The experimental data have been analyzed in the laboratory system from 16.0 to 24.0 MeV and excellent agreement between theoretical results and the measured experimental data has been obtained by using this modified optical potential. We show that the presence of the two small additional potentials creates a deepening in the surface region of the nuclear potential, which is very effective for the interference of the internal and barrier waves. This work is important in showing the sensitivity of the cross section to the fine details of the optical potential. It is also argued that the two small additional potentials take into account the coupling effect like that of the coupled channels and as a result reduce the strength of the imaginary potential. In this context, the results of the optical model are compared with that of the coupled channels.