Self-consistent heavy-ion potentials

Calculations of the real part of the heavy-ion potential have been performed for the systems ${}_{}{}^{12}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{C}$ + ${}_{}{}^{12}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{C}$, ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ + ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$, and ${}_{}{}^{40}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ca}$ + ${}_{}{}^{40}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Ca}$ using the Hartree-Fock method with a constraint on the center-of-mass distance. The interaction used is the Skyrme force SIII. For the case of ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ + ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ a detailed discussion of the nuclear structure with increasing overlap of the ions is given. It is found that the individual shell structures of the two ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ nuclei survive until the density in the neck region has reached about 50% of its maximum value. The calculated potentials have been used in an optical model code to calculate elastic excitation functions. The agreement with the empirically determined best fit potentials is remarkable.