Quasifission and Shell Effects in Reactions Forming 266Sg

The role of shell effects in reactions forming the heavy element 266Sg was investigated using the Mass Angle Distribution technique. For the 34S + 232Th reaction the doubly magic shell closure at 208Pb was found to strongly influence asymmetric quasifission, the exit channel at sub barrier energies. The evolution of the dinuclear system is arrested as it passes through this mass region. Mass splits corresponding to AL/AH ≈ 58/208 are seen for a large range of angles indicating a long timescale for this process. The more mass asymmetric 28Si + 238U reaction has a much smaller quasifission cross section. Therefore the shell effects around 208Pb are not dominant here.