ABSTRACT
The radiative capture channel and search for element 116 One of the unresolved questions giving us most headaches was the possibility of synthesising superheavy nuclei by a complete fusion of projectile and target nucleus without the emission of a neutron. The excitation energy would be emitted only as γ-rays, hence the name radiative capture (or ‘0n’ meaning zero neutron) channel. We knew that this reaction channel was possible for heavy ions because some years earlier Karl-Heinz and coworkers had observed 180Hg synthesis by fusion of two 90Zr nuclei. In that reaction, the 0n channel had a cross-section only slightly smaller than the 1n channel. In the region of heaviest elements the step from the 1n channel to the 0n channel would be a major change in the properties of fusion reaction, but in which direction – larger or smaller cross-section?
