• Accepted Paper

Systematic comparison of driving potentials: Benchmarking and prediction for 48Ca + 254Es

Yipeng Wang, Hongfei Zhang, Jieru Ren, and Yongtao Zhao

Phys. Rev. C - Accepted 20 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xjq3-tj6y

Abstract

The synthesis of the superheavy element with atomic number Z = 119 via the 48Ca + 254Es reaction represents one of the most promising near-term experimental goals, although theoretical predictions of its evaporation residue cross section (ERCS) are consistently low. Within the di-nuclear system (DNS) model, the driving potential U(η) provides the microscopic landscape governing nucleon transfer and compound nucleus formation. We therefore examine how different microscopic inputs modify the fusion path and ERCS predictions for 48Ca-induced reactions on 248Cm, 249Cf, and 254Es. Calculations based on Finite-Range Droplet Model (FRDM) and Weizsäcker-Skyrme (WS) microscopic–macroscopic models are compared, with the former two benchmark reactions evaluated against available experimental data. Within the WS model, explicitly introducing deformation parameters (β1,β2) as independent degrees of freedom reduces the Coulomb potential at the entrance channel, thereby lowering the inner fusion barrier by approximately 1 MeV. The inclusion of shell correction damping at finite excitation energy further modifies the driving potential and fusion probability $P_{\rm CN}$ within the optimized deformation scheme. For the 3n evaporation channel of 48Ca+254Es, predicted ERCS lies in the range of [0.016,0.167] pb around the favorable excitation energy region of E*=32–34 MeV. The comparison with previous theoretical studies indicates that the energy region is relatively robust, whereas the absolute cross section exhibits substantial model dependence. These results provide a quantitative assessment of microscopic uncertainties in driving potential calculations for future Z=119 synthesis studies.

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