Kinetics in sub-barrier fusion of spherical nuclei

The semiclassical transport theory is applied to the description of heavy-ion fusion at energies below and above the Coulomb barrier. The paths connecting entrance and exit fusion reaction channels are found as a continuous solution of the Vlasov transport equation in classically allowed and forbidden regions associated with suitably defined collective variables. The effects of nuclear deformation, neck formation, and nonlocality are quantified on the basis of microscopic simulations and analyzed. The results of calculations give good fits to experimental data for fusion of nearly symmetric oxygen and nickel isotope pairs.