Understanding Heavy-ion Fusion Cross Section Data Using Novel Artificial Intelligence Approaches

An unprecedentedly extensive dataset of complete fusion cross section data is modeled via a novel artificial intelligence approach. The analysis was focused on light-to-medium-mass nuclei, where fission-like phenomena are more difficult to occur. The method used to derive the models exploits a state-of-the-art hybridization of genetic programming and artificial neural networks and is capable to derive, in a data-driven way, an analytical expression that serves to predict integrated cross section values. We analyzed a comprehensive set of nuclear variables, including quantities related to the nuclear structure of projectile and target. In this paper, we describe the derivation of two computationally simple models that can satisfactorily describe, with a reduced number of variables and only a few parameters, a large variety of light-to-intermediate-mass collision systems in an energy domain ranging approximately from the Coulomb barrier to the oncet of multi-fragmentation phenomena. The underlying methods are of potential use for a broad domain of applications in the nuclear field.