Effect of Nuclear Deformation on Heavy-Ion Fusion

The cross sections for the fusion of ${}_{}{}^{16}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{O}$ with the spherical and deformed isotopes of Sm measured at bombarding energies spanning the fusion barrier indicate the importance of nuclear deformation for the fusion process. Calculations based on the usual static treatment of deformation effects, however, show significant discrepancies with the experimental data.