English

Gamow shell model predictions for six-proton unbound nucleus $^{20}$Si

Nuclear Theory 2025-12-09 v1

Abstract

Proton-rich nuclei beyond the proton drip line are of great interest in nuclear structure physics, due to exotic phenomena such as proton emissions and the Thomas-Ehrman shift (TES). In this work, we employ the Gamow shell model (GSM) to investigate the structure and decay of 20^{20}Si, a candidate for six-proton (6pp) emission, which can be produced via two-neutron knockout from the drip line nucleus 22^{22}Si. We predict that its ground state decays via 6p6p emission to the ground state of 14^{14}O, with a decay energy E6p=10.125E_{6p} = 10.125 MeV and a width of 371~keV. A 2+2^+ state is predicted at 1.7 MeV, comparable with that in 18^{18}Mg, indicating the disappearance of the Z=14Z=14 magic number in 20^{20}Si. Instead, analyses of the many-body configurations and the average occupancies of the mirror states suggest the presence of dynamicdynamic TES in low-lying states of 19^{19}Al/19^{19}C and 20^{20}Si/20^{20}C. Further evidence is provided by analyzing the contributions of different components of the GSM Hamiltonian. Moreover, this study offers the first theoretical description of 20^{20}Si and guidance for future experiments.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.07594,
  title  = {Gamow shell model predictions for six-proton unbound nucleus $^{20}$Si},
  author = {J. L. Wang and M. R. Xie and K. H. Li and P. Y. Wang and N. Michel and Q. Yuan and J. G. Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.07594},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

8 pages, 4 figures, 1 tables

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:14:55.221Z