Beyond the coherent coupled channels description of nuclear fusion.

New measurements of fusion cross sections at deep sub-barrier energies for the reactions 16O+{204,208}Pb show a steep but almost saturated logarithmic slope, unlike 64Ni-induced reactions. Coupled channels calculations cannot simultaneously reproduce these new data and above-barrier cross-sections with the same Woods-Saxon nuclear potential. It is argued that this highlights an inadequacy of the coherent coupled channels approach.

Unexpected inhibition of fusion in nucleus-nucleus collisions.

Unstable heavy atomic nuclei not found in nature can be created by fusing two stable nuclei, in a process analogous to colliding charged droplets of liquid. Recently, the formation of a handful of super-heavy nuclei with atomic numbers 114 (ref. 1) and 116 (ref.