Three-body decay ofBe6

Three-body correlations for the ground-state decay of the lightest two-proton emitter Be-6 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 Be-6 was formed following the alpha decay of a C-10 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 that can elucidate the structure of Be-6 and, possibly, of the A = 6 isobars.