Strongly damped heavy-ion collisions: Microscopic calculation of the kinetic-energy loss in rapid stretching

The internal excitation energy of two colliding heavy ions is calculated in a microscopic model based on the rapid stretching of two rotating heavy ions in weak contact. The excitation energies are calculated for various projectile-target combinations (${}_{}{}^{40}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ar}$, ${}_{}{}^{84}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Kr}$, and ${}_{}{}^{136}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Xe}$ as projectiles and ${}_{}{}^{209}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Bi}$ and ${}_{}{}^{232}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Th}$ as targets). The calculated energies in the rapid stretching mode are shown to be consistent with the experimentally observed kinetic-energy loss in the strongly damped collisions. A more definite experimental test of the concept of rapid stretching of two colliding heavy ions is suggested.