Sensitivity of the fusion cross section to the density dependence of the symmetry energy
P.-G. Reinhard · A.S. Umar · P.D. Stevenson · J. Piekarewicz · V.E. Oberacker · J.A. Maruhn
It is the aim of this paper to discuss the impact of nuclear fusion on the EOS. This is a timely subject given the expected availability of increasingly exotic beams at rare isotope facilities\,\cite{balantekin2014}. In practice, we focus on Ca+Ca fusion. We employ three different approaches to calculate fusion cross-sections for a set of energy density functionals with systematically varying nuclear matter properties. Fusion calculations are performed using frozen densities, using a dynamic microscopic method based on density-constrained time-dependent Hartree-Fock (DC-TDHF) approach, as well as direct TDHF study of above barrier cross-sections. For these studies, we employ a family of Skyrme parametrizations with systematically varied nuclear matter properties. We find a slight preference for forces which deliver a slope of symmetry energy of \,MeV that corresponds to a neutron-skin thickness of Ca of \,fm.