Emission time sequence of neutrons and protons as probes of α-clustering structure

Neutron–proton momentum correlation functions are constructed from a three-body photodisintegration channel, i.e., core\begin{document}$ + n + p$\end{document}, and used to explore the spatial-time information of the non-clustering Woods–Saxon spherical structure as well as the \begin{document}$\alpha$\end{document}-clustering structures of \begin{document}$^{12}{\rm{C}}$\end{document} or \begin{document}$^{16}{\rm{O}}$\end{document} based on an extended quantum molecular dynamics model. The emission time sequence of neutrons and protons is indicated by the ratio of velocity-gated neutron–proton correlation functions, demonstrating its sensitivity to \begin{document}$\alpha$\end{document}-clustering structures. This work sheds light on a new probe for \begin{document}$\alpha$\end{document}-clustering structures.