Fusion of 12C + 24Mg at far sub-barrier energies

Abstract

Recent experiments on ¹²C + ²⁴Mg and preliminary data on ¹²C + ²⁶Mg show that we observe the hindrance phenomenon in these two systems that are close to the lighter ones relevant for astrophysics. The cross section at the hindrance threshold has a remarkably high value for ¹²C + ²⁴Mg, while it is closer to an empirical systematics for ¹²C + ²⁶Mg. The lowest-energy fusion cross sections of ¹²C + ²⁴Mg are consistent with simple one-dimensional barrier penetration calculations, i.e. the coupling strengths seem to be strongly damped far below the barrier. Measurements at slightly lower energies would be essential to discriminate between different models and to allow reliably extrapolating to the lighter systems producing energy and elemental synthesis in stellar environments.