Continuum and three-nucleon force in Borromean system: The 17Ne case

TL;DR

This study uses chiral nuclear forces and advanced modeling to analyze the Borromean nucleus 17Ne, highlighting the importance of three-nucleon forces and continuum effects in its structure and decay properties.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive approach combining chiral potentials, normal-ordering, and the Berggren representation to accurately describe 17Ne including continuum and three-nucleon forces.

Findings

3NF is essential for Borromean structure

Continuum effects are crucial for halo properties

Predicted two-proton decay from excited state

Abstract

Starting from chiral two-nucleon (2NF) and chiral three-nucleon (3NF) potentials, we present a detailed study of 17Ne, a Borromean system, with the Gamow shell model which can capture continuum effects. More precisely, we take advantage of the normal-ordering approach to include the 3NF and the Berggren representation to treat bound, resonant and continuum states on equal footing in a complex-momentum plane. In our framework, 3NF is essential to reproduce the Borromean structure of 17Ne, while the continuum is more crucial for the halo property of the nucleus. The two-proton halo structure is demonstrated by calculating the valence proton density and correlation density. The astrophysically interesting $3/2^-$ excited state has its energy above the threshold of the proton emission, and therefore the two-proton decay should be expected from the state.