The temperature dependence of the Hi optical potential

Within a realistic effective nucleon-nucleon interaction, derived from the Reid soft-core potential at zero temperature, the dependence on temperature of the heavy ion optical potential is investigated for the systems 40Ca + 40Ca and 208Pb + 208Pb. The hot nuclear densities are generated using the Thomas-Fermi model at a finite temperature. It is found that both the real and the imaginary parts of the optical potential become more attractive and extend to large distances when the temperature increases. The barrier heights are lowered and shifted outwards. © 1987.