Four-neutron Decay Correlations

The mechanism of simultaneous non-sequential four-neutron emission (or "true" four-neutron decay) has been considered in the phenomenological five-body approach. It is demonstrated that four-neutron decay fragments should have specific energy and angular correlations reflecting strong spatial correlations of "valence" nucleons orbiting in their four-neutron precursors. Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, the valence neutrons are pushed to the symmetry-allowed configurations in the four-neutron precursor structure, which causes a "Pauli focusing" effect. Prospects of the observation of the Pauli focusing have been considered for the hydrogen-7 nucleus. Fingerprints of its nuclear structure or/and decay dynamics are predicted.