Multi-Nucleon Exchange in Quasi-Fission Reactions

Nucleon exchange mechanism is investigated in the central collisions of ${}^{40}$Ca + ${}^{238}$U and ${}^{48}$Ca + ${}^{238}$U systems near the quasi-fission regime in the framework of the Stochastic Mean-Field (SMF) approach. Sufficiently below the fusion barrier, di-nuclear structure in the collisions is maintained to a large extend. Consequently, it is possible to describe nucleon exchange as a diffusion process familiar from deep-inelastic collisions. Diffusion coefficients for proton and neutron exchange are determined from the microscopic basis of the SMF approach in the semi-classical framework. Calculations show that after a fast charge equilibration the system drifts toward symmetry over a very long interaction time. Large dispersions of proton and neutron distributions of the produced fragments indicate that diffusion mechanism may help to populate heavy trans-uranium elements near the quasi-fission regime in these collisions.