Electrodisintegration ofLi6studied with the reactionLi6(e,e’p)

The ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\to \mathit{p}+(\mathit{n}\mathit{\alpha }$) spectral function for the proton-knockout reaction ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Li}$(e,e’p) has been measured in parallel kinematics in the missing-momentum range -100<$p_m$<200 MeV/c. The data below α breakup are well described by a three-body (αnp) model of ${}_{}{}^6{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Li}$. The shell model with discrete energy eigenstates cannot describe the data. The experimental spectroscopic strength below α breakup amounts to 0.79(10), compared to 0.87 as predicted by the three-body model and 1.33 as calculated from a schematic harmonic-oscillator shell model. The discrepancy between the predictions of the two models is discussed.