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Pauli-principle driven correlations in four-neutron nuclear decays

Abstract

Mechanism of simultaneous non-sequential four-neutron (4n4n) emission (or `true' 4n4n-decay) has been considered in phenomenological five-body approach. This approach is analogous to the model of the direct decay to the continuum often applied to 2n2n- and 2p2p-decays. It is demonstrated that 4n4n-decay fragments should have specific energy and angular correlations reflecting strong spatial correlations of `valence' nucleons orbiting in their 4n4n-precursors. Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, the valence neutrons are pushed to the symmetry-allowed configurations in the 4n4n-precursor structure, which causes a `Pauli focusing' effect. Prospects of the observation of the Pauli focusing have been considered for the 4n4n-precursors 7^7H and 28^{28}O. Fingerprints of their nuclear structure or/and decay dynamics are predicted

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