Channel-coupling effects in heavy-ion fusion reactions

A coupled-channel framework for fusion reactions is considered where an ingoing-wave boundary condition allows the effect of strong coupling in the barrier region to be studied. It is shown analytically within the sudden limit and, more generally, with model calculations that the couplings to reaction channels act to enhance the transmission through the barrier at low energies. This appears to be a natural mechanism for explaining the relatively large sub-barrier heavy-ion fusion cross sections which have recently been observed.