2021/12/20 by Jingjing Li, Gen Zhang, Xinrui Zhang +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Nuclear physics research studies #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
paper · doi:10.1088/1361-6471/ac44ad
openalex publication_date 2021/12/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract The production cross sections of unknown neutron-rich transuranium isotopes of elements Np, Pu, Am and Cm are investigated in multinucleon transfer (MNT) reactions based on the dinuclear system model with GEMINI code. The influence of the incident energy on the production of neutron-rich transuranium nuclei in actinide–actinide collisions is studied. The calculation results show that the final isotopic production cross sections are larger at 1.06–1.10 V cont than at other energies. Considering the high fissility of transuranium nuclides, 1.06 V cont is chosen as the optimal incident energy. The N / Z ratio equilibration mechanism in the nucleon transfer process is also studied in this work. The larger difference of N / Z ratio between projectile and target corresponds to larger neutron diffusion during the nucleon exchange process. The 238 U beam with high N / Z ratio and neutron-rich actinide targets are good selections to produce neutron-rich transuranium nuclides. The production cross sections of unknown neutron-rich transuranium isotopes 245–249 Np, 248–251 Pu, 248–254 Am, and 252–254 Cm are predicted in 238 U-induced actinide-based ( 249 Bk, 249 Cf, and 252 Cf) MNT reactions. It is found that a large number of these unknown neutron-rich transuranium nuclei could be generated at the level of nb to μ b in the reactions 238 U + 249 Bk and 238 U + 252 Cf. Our research indicates that the reaction 238 U + 249 Bk is a suitable projectile-target combination in the current experimental conditions and the reaction 238 U + 252 Cf could be a promising candidate to produce unknown neutron-rich transuranium nuclides in case that the 252 Cf target were to be achieved in the future.