Barrier distribution extraction via Gaussian process regression

Abstract: This work presents a novel method for extracting potential barrier distributions from experimental fusion cross sections. We utilize a simple Gaussian process regression (GPR) framework to model the observed cross sections as a function of energy for three nuclear systems. The GPR approach offers a flexible way to represent the experimental data, accommodating potentially complex behavior without introducing strong prior assumptions. This method is applied directly to experimental data and is compared to the traditional direct extraction technique. We discuss the advantages of GPR-based barrier distribution extraction, including the capability to quantify uncertainties and robustness to noise in the experimental data.