Pairing (particle-particle) giant resonances are analyzed within a shell-model formalism in the complex energy plane with the aim of understanding why they have not been observed so far. A comparison is made with the equivalent particle-hole mode by applying the formalism to the analysis of the well-understood particle-hole giant resonance. It is found that because of the proper treatment of the continuum intrinsic to the formalism, giant pairing resonances lie much higher than previously predicted and that some of them may be too wide to be observed, whereas others are meaningful excitations. For these, new experimental searches are proposed.

• Received 9 June 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.80.064311