Indications of a shallow potential in ⁴⁸Ca+⁹⁶Zr fusion reactions

Fusion data for $^{48}$Ca+$^{96}$Zr are analyzed by coupled-channels calculations. Puzzling features of a previous analysis are eliminated by applying a potential that has a shallow pocket in the entrance channel. Thus the observed $S$ factor for fusion, which develops a maximum at low energy, can be reproduced fairly well. The high-energy data can also be accounted for but that requires the use of a weak, short-ranged imaginary potential that absorbs the incoming flux near the location of the minimum of the potential pocket. Predictions of the fusion hindrance in other Ca+Zr systems are made and are compared with the systematics that has been developed previously.