The two-neutron transfer reaction 28Si(18O,16O)30Si at 56 MeV, about 17 MeV above the Coulomb barrier( \(E_{B} \approx 39.1\) )MeV, was investigated to explore the role of different nucleon–nucleon (NN) interactions on the transfer mechanisms within the framework of coupled reaction channels and coupled channels Born approximation models. Three effective NN interactions, namely; M3Y, SPP2, and JLM, were employed to construct the real and imaginary optical potentials. Elastic and inelastic scattering analyses were first performed to constrain the potential parameters, which showed that the JLM potential provides a better description at backward angles, whereas M3Y and SPP2 reproduce the data more accurately at forward scattering angles. The analysis of the transfer reaction channels was performed using extreme clusters, independent coordinate and sequential transfer mechanisms. In the ground and low-lying excited state transitions, M3Y and SPP2 provide comparable and generally good agreement with the experimental data compared to JLM, although the latter performs better in reproducing the full angular distribution for higher excited states. This study highlights the sensitivity of two-neutron transfer observables to the NN interaction choice and confirms the predominance of the sequential mechanism at the studied energy near the Coulomb barrier.
