The observation of long-range three-body Coloumb effects in the decay of 16Ne

TL;DR

This study observed three-body decay correlations in $^{16}$Ne, revealing long-range Coulomb effects and providing new insights into its decay width, with implications for understanding nuclear interactions.

Contribution

First measurement of three-body decay correlations in $^{16}$Ne showing long-range Coulomb effects with high resolution and statistics.

Findings

Correlations depend on long-range Coulomb interaction

Intrinsic decay width of $^{16}$Ne ground state is narrow (<60 keV)

Results align with theoretical decay width estimates

Abstract

The interaction of an $E/A$=57.6-MeV $^{17}$Ne beam with a Be target was used to populate levels in $^{16}$Ne following neutron knockout reactions. The decay of $^{16}$Ne states into the three-body $^{14}$O+$p$+$p$ continuum was observed in the High Resolution Array (HiRA). For the first time for a 2p emitter, correlations between the momenta of the three decay products were measured with sufficient resolution and statistics to allow for an unambiguous demonstration of their dependence on the long-range nature of the Coulomb interaction. Contrary to previous experiments, the intrinsic decay width of the $^{16}$Ne ground state was found to be narrow ($\Gamma<60$~keV), consistent with theoretical estimates.