Three-neutron resonance study using transition operators

TL;DR

This study investigates the existence of three-neutron resonances by solving scattering equations with realistic potentials, finding no observable resonant states at physical interaction strengths.

Contribution

It provides a rigorous continuum analysis of three-neutron systems using Faddeev equations, clarifying the non-existence of observable three-neutron resonances.

Findings

Resonant behavior appears only with artificially enhanced interactions.

Resonances vanish at physical interaction strengths.

No observable three-neutron resonant states are supported by current models.

Abstract

Existing bound-state type calculations of three-neutron resonances yield contradicting results. A direct study of the three-neutron continuum using rigorous scattering equations with realistic potentials and search for possible resonances is aimed. Faddeev-type integral equations for three-neutron transition operators are solved in the momentum-space partial-wave framework. The evolution of resonances is studied by enhancing the strength of the two-neutron interaction in partial waves with nonzero orbital momentum. Calculated three-neutron transition operators exhibit resonant behavior for sufficiently large enhancement factors; pole trajectories in the complex-energy energy plane are extracted from their energy dependence. However, the resonant behavior completely disappears for the physical interaction strength. There are no physically observable three-neutron resonant states consistent with presently accepted interaction models.