O 17 + Ni 58 scattering and reaction dynamics around the Coulomb barrier

This work aims at investigating the projectile binding energy influence on the reaction dynamics, introducing new results and new data analysis methods in order to overcome some typically encountered problems, such as the identification of reaction products differing by few mass units and the discrimination of direct reaction processes. The O-17+Ni-58 collision was studied at five near-barrier energies employing a compact experimental setup consisting of four double-sided silicon strip detectors (DSSSDs). Different reaction processes, namely the elastic and inelastic scattering and the 1n stripping, were discriminated by means of a detailed analysis of the experimental energy spectra based on Monte Carlo simulations. The elastic scattering angular distributions were investigated within the framework of the optical model using Woods-Saxon and double-folding potentials. The total reaction cross sections were extracted and the reduced cross sections compared with those obtained for F-17 (S-p = 0.600 MeV), the mirror nucleus of O-17 (S-n = 4.143 MeV), and for the tightly bound O-16 projectile. The O-17+Ni-58 total reaction cross sections were larger than those for O-16 on the same target at the lowest energies studied, becoming identical, within errors, as the incident energy increased above the Coulomb barrier. This behavior was related to a strong contribution from the 1n-stripping channel at the lowest energies.