Three-body decay of ${}^6$Be

Abstract

Three-body correlations for the ground-state decay of the lightest two-proton emitter ${}^6$Be are studied both theoretically and experimentally. Theoretical studies are performed in a three-body hyperspherical-harmonics cluster model. In the experimental studies, the ground state of ${}^6$Be was formed following the $\hat{I}\pm$ decay of a ${}^{10}$C beam inelastically excited through interactions with Be and C targets. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment is obtained demonstrating the existence of complicated correlation patterns which can elucidate the structure of ${}^6$Be and, possibly, of the A=6 isobar.

17 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables