Applicability of the Wong formula for fusion cross sections from light to heavy systems

Abstract: We discuss the applicability of the Wong formula for fusion cross sections in a single-channel problem. To this end, we carry out a systematic study and compare the approximate fusion cross sections with the exact results in a wide mass region of reaction systems. We show that the deviation of the approximate results from the exact cross sections is large for light systems, even though the Wong formula provides a reasonable approximation for heavy systems. We also discuss the energy dependence of the deviation, and show that for a given projectile nucleus the critical energy, at which the deviation exceeds 5\% of the exact cross sections, increases as a function of the mass number of the target nucleus.