Energy distributions from three-body decaying many-body resonances

TL;DR

This paper calculates energy distributions of three particles from decaying many-body resonances, matching experimental data for specific states in carbon-12, and distinguishes decay mechanisms through detailed wavefunction analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a method to compute energy distributions from complex many-body decays, capturing both sequential and direct decay mechanisms with high accuracy.

Findings

Reproduces experimental energy distributions for $^{12}$C resonances.

Distinguishes between sequential and direct decay mechanisms.

Provides detailed wavefunction evolution from small to large distances.

Abstract

We compute energy distributions of three particles emerging from decaying many-body resonances. We reproduce the measured energy distributions from decays of two archetypal states chosen as the lowest $0^{+}$ and $1^{+}$-resonances in $^{12}$C populated in $\beta$-decays. These states are dominated by sequential, through the $^{8}$Be ground state, and direct decays, respectively. These decay mechanisms are reflected in the ``dynamic'' evolution from small, cluster or shell-model states, to large distances, where the coordinate or momentum space continuum wavefunctions are accurately computed.