Abstract
Multinucleon transfer reactions, characterized by the exchange of many nucleons at energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier, have been extensively used in the last decades to understand the production of neutron-rich nuclei, as well as to study their structure. In this Mini Review, recent results related to the production mechanism of heavy neutron-rich nuclei obtained with stable and radioactive beams will be discussed together with the results concerning the proton transfer channels. Additionally, newest results from a series of experiments carried out to study nucleon-nucleon correlations for closed-shell and superfluid systems employing the large solid angle magnetic spectrometer PRISMA will be summarized.
Introduction
Multinucleon transfer (MNT) reactions between heavy ions at energies around the Coulomb barrier are characterized by the exchange of many nucleons between the target and the projectile with a population of relatively low excitation energy and of relatively high spins []. They have been extensively used in the last decades to populate moderately neutron-rich mid-mass nuclei with cross sections large enough to study their structure [–]. Specifically, valuable information on single-particle states, collective excitations, and their coupling [–], are offered by one-nucleon transfer channels, while transfer of nucleon pairs yields information on nucleon-nucleon correlations [–]. As more nucleons are getting transferred, it is possible to populate nuclei farther from the stability and to study the evolution of reaction from quasi-elastic to deep-inelastic regime.
In the quasi-elastic regime, the mass and charge distributions of transfer products are governed by optimum Q-value considerations and transfer form factors []. As a result, the neutron pick-up and the proton stripping channels of the projectile-like fragments are dominantly populated when lighter stable projectiles are used on heavy targets []. The transfer flux changes already with the use of more neutron-rich stable projectiles in which case proton pick-up channels open up []. With neutron-rich projectiles, the trend should turn and the proton pick-up and neutron stripping channels should dominate, leading to the population of neutron-rich heavy fragments [–]. This pathway is very interesting for nuclear structure investigations, for example for the understanding of the evolution of magic numbers far from stability [–], and for nuclear astrophysics investigations, where heavy-element synthesis in the r-process is particularly intriguing [, ].
MNT as a method to produce heavy neutron-rich nuclei
Multinucleon transfer reactions were predicted to be a competitive method for the production of heavy neutron-rich nuclei in the pivotal work of Dasso and collaborators []. More recently, it has been predicted that the neutron-rich region around the magic number N = 126 can be approached by using stable beams at energies around the Coulomb barrier in deep-inelastic collisions (DIC) []. These predictions were experimentally studied in the last years with careful selection of the colliding systems which are suitable to populate proton pick-up channels at energies around the Coulomb barrier. Many of these studies are based on the powerful combination of selective large solid angle magnetic spectrometers such as PRISMA [–] in Legnaro National Laboratories in Italy and efficient γ-ray detectors [, , ]. Even so, the study of proton pick-up channels is still in its beginnings and reaction products have been identified in atomic number, mass and Q-value for only a few systems.
In this section we will present our selection of some of the measurements concerning the production of heavy neutron-rich nuclei. Measurements have been performed for the 144Sm+88Sr [] and 48Ca+124Sn [] systems to study nucleon correlation effects and complex (i.e., pair/cluster) degrees of freedom in the transfer process. On the other hand, indirect measurements of cross sections based on the knowledge of the level schemes, using characteristic γ rays, were performed for few heavy systems [–].
Recently a high resolution study of the absolute production cross sections of neutron-rich nuclei in the 136Xe+198Pt system [] gained a lot of attention. Measurement performed with the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer [], to identify light reaction partner, and EXOGAM γ-array [] showed that the main contribution to the formation of heavy neutron-rich nuclei such as Hg and Os arise in collisions with a small excitation energies where the particle, mainly neutron, evaporation is minimized. Experimental results have been compared with the GRAZING code [–] that calculates the evolution of the reaction by taking into account, besides the relative motion, the intrinsic degrees of freedom of projectile and target. These are the isoscalar surface modes and the single-nucleon transfer channels. The multinucleon transfer channels are described via a multistep mechanism. The relative motion of the system is calculated in a nuclear plus Coulomb field. The model, to calculate the isotopic distributions of the produced fragments, takes into account, in a simple way, the effect of neutron evaporation. The code has been successfully applied in the description of MNT reactions and in general gives good description of the neutron and few proton transfer channels. However, it was observed that for more proton stripping and pick-up channels the measured distributions peak at lower and higher mass values, respectively, as compared to the GRAZING calculations that take into account only impact parameters close to the grazing angle. The difference from the calculation indicates the presence of large energy losses and significant influence of neutron evaporation.
The total cross sections of proton pick-up channels were further measured for the 40Ar+208Pb system where the focus was on obtaining the total transfer strength []. This was achieved by measuring the angular distribution for the light reaction partners over large range of angles spanning three angular and magnetic field settings of the PRISMA spectrometer and by taking into account the spectrometer’s response function [, ]. This allowed to study the evolution of quasi-elastic to DIC. Disentangling between different contributions is challenging from both experimental and theoretical side since they are substantially mixed and may strongly overlap. However, insight was gained by identifying reaction products in mass and charge, and by measuring total kinetic energy loss (TKEL) and angular distributions over wide range of angles, as well as by comparing these experimental observables with theoretical calculations. As can be seen from Figure 1A, the deviations between experimental data and GRAZING calculations are more pronounced for the proton (especially pick-up) channels, when neutron transfer channels are involved. The contributions from DIC were extracted and identified to be significant. This is especially relevant at energies substantially higher than the Coulomb barrier, where DIC, as well as secondary effects, become more and more relevant.
FIGURE 1
Secondary processes, such as neutron evaporation and fission, especially from 238U, can significantly modify the final yield distribution of heavy primary nuclei mainly towards the lighter isotopes. It is important to quantitatively understand their relevance and to study the best experimental conditions for the largest survival probability of the neutron-rich nuclei populated in MNT reactions. The cross section studies for proton pick-up channels have been performed with the 238U target for the 64Ni+238U [
Although information on the heavy partner can be obtained indirectly by detecting the coincident γ rays produced by the reaction products [
A definite dominance of the proton pick-up and neutron stripping channels in the distribution of the transfer flux of the light partner, leading to the proton stripping and neutron pick-up in the heavy partner of the reaction, is predicted to occur by using neutron-rich projectiles, in most cases, five to seven neutrons away from the last stable isotope [
Experimental results confirm that MNT reactions are a suitable tool to produce exotic neutron-rich nuclei [
Finally, different theoretical models are becoming available partially thanks to the use of super-computers. These developments in reaction theory must consider the adequate treatment of the reaction dynamics, realistic structure models and proper effective interactions. Some of the newer approaches include the improved quantum molecular dynamics (ImQMD) model [52–56] and time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory [57–66]. Nowadays it is possible to take into account quantal fluctuations and correlations going beyond the TDFH approach [67–70]. Therefore, precise measurements of experimental observables, especially absolute cross sections, angular and TKEL distributions, and disentangling between different effects that contribute to the reaction cross section, can be used to validate different theoretical models in order to optimize the population of the exotic nuclei of interest. This comparison of different models and experimental data should give better insight in the MNT reaction mechanism and help to develop our understanding of low-energy heavy-ion reactions.
Nucleon-nucleon correlations
Two-nucleon transfer reactions are among the best tools to investigate nucleon-nucleon correlations which are induced by the pairing interaction [71–74]. With heavy ions, the reaction dynamics is complex and only recently microscopic calculations achieved a good agreement with the experimental data [
The total transfer probability for one-neutron transfer channel was obtained by summing over all possible transitions that can be constructed from the single-particle states in the projectile and target for the 96Zr+40Ca [
FIGURE 2

Theoretical transfer probabilities Ptr for the one- and two-neutron transfer (lines) in comparison with the experimental data (symbols) for the 96Zr+40Ca (A) and 116Sn+60Ni (B) systems plotted as a function of the distance of closest approach D(A) The full line represents the inclusive transfer probability for one-neutron transfer, the dotted line the ground-to-ground state transition for the two-neutron transfer, and the dashed line the transition to the first 0+ excited state at 5.76Â MeV in 42Ca [
The experimental transfer probabilities for 116Sn+60Ni shown in Figure 2B have been well reproduced, for the first time with heavy ions for the two-neutron transfer channel, in absolute values and in slope by microscopic calculations which incorporate nucleon-nucleon pairing correlations, microscopically calculated optical potentials and successive transfer processes [
Recent theoretical calculations interpreted 116Sn+60Ni data as a manifestation of a nuclear (alternating current) Josephson effect with Cooper pairs tunneling between the superfluid nuclei [
More work is needed in order to better understand the role of a transfer of a pair by confronting theory with experiments involving different nuclei. In this respect, valuable insight will be given by the 206Pb+118Sn system [80, 81] recently measured with PRISMA. This is the heaviest (asymmetric) semi-magic system with closed proton and open neutron shells, and well Q-value matched for neutron transfers. Important questions that can be answered in this case are whether and to what extent the effect of neutron-neutron correlations is modified in the presence of high Coulomb fields and do DIC and multistep processes significantly modify the transfer strength near the ground states. The transfer strength of the ground-to-ground state transitions may significantly change in the collisions of very heavy ions thanks to the population of final states with high excitation energies and large angular momenta. Additionally, it would be interesting to see whether any enhancement factors can be observed in the collisions of two doubly magic nuclei.
Nucleon-nucleon correlations studies should be extended to even less understood role of neutron-proton and proton-proton correlations [82]. The study of neutron-proton correlations has been done with nuclei along the N = Z line to investigate the isovector and isoscalar components (for some of the recent results see Refs. [83–88]), while the data for the proton-proton correlations are more scarce [82]. It would be of great interest to extend these studies to transfer reactions with heavy ions even if the transfer probabilities for protons are generally smaller at the same D and more difficulties are encountered than in the case of neutrons from both experimental and theoretical point of view. These measurements can be advanced by the coupling of a spectrometer and an efficient γ-array which could provide important additional information for both one and two-proton transfer.
Finally, the advent of new radioactive beam facilities [89–92] should provide access to the nuclei with an extended neutron distribution and should allow the possibility to study the density dependence of the pairing force. Particularly interesting is the (closed shell) region of 132Sn and beyond to look at the modification of the properties of pair transfers. Some work has been done with the halo nuclei, as for instance with 11Li induced reactions providing evidence of phonon mediated pairing [93, 94]. The comparison of data concerning the dynamic effects of pairing correlations with different microscopic theories (for instance [
Statements
Author contributions
TM wrote the manuscript on behalf of the PRISMA collaboration.
Funding
This work has been supported in part by the Croatian Science Foundation under Project no. 7194 and under Project no. IP-2018-01-1257, as well as Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials and Sensing Devices (CEMS). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007- 2013 under Grant Agreement 262010 - ENSAR.
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the support of the PRISMA, CLARA and AGATA collaborations, in particular L. Corradi, E. Fioretto, F. Galtarossa, A. Goasduff, G. Montagnoli, D. Montanari, G. Pollarolo, A.M. Sefanini, S. Szilner whose work is presented in this article.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
low-energy heavy-ion reactions, multinucleon transfer reactions, neutron-rich nuclei, nucleon-nucleon correlations, magnetic spectrometers
Citation
Mijatović T (2022) Multinucleon transfer reactions: a mini-review of recent advances. Front. Phys. 10:965198. doi: 10.3389/fphy.2022.965198
Received
09 June 2022
Accepted
01 July 2022
Published
19 August 2022
Volume
10 - 2022
Edited by
Leandro Gasques, University of São Paulo, Brazil
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© 2022 Mijatović.
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*Correspondence: Tea Mijatović, tea.mijatovic@irb.hr
This article was submitted to Nuclear Physics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Physics
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