Two-proton widths of 12O, 16Ne, and three-body mechanism of Thomas-Ehrman shift

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jan 28;88(4):042502. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.042502. Epub 2002 Jan 11.

Abstract

Two-proton decays of 12O and 16Ne ground states are studied in a three-body model. We have found that the two-proton widths for the states should be much less than the existing experimental values (about 10 times for 12O and about 100 times for 16Ne). We also have found that the structure of these states differs significantly from the mirror isobaric analog states (IAS): breaking of isobaric symmetry is at the level of tens of percents. Together with a corresponding decrease of the Coulomb energy, this effect can be considered as a three-body mechanism of the Thomas-Ehrman shift.