Three-State Mixing as a Phenomenological Framework for Multiple Shape Coexistence
Shape coexistence represents one of the most striking manifestations of competing collective and single-particle degrees of freedom in atomic nuclei. While the coexistence and mixing of two configurations can be described within the well-established Two-State Mixing framework, the observation of three or more competing structures requires a more general treatment. In this work, we introduce a Three-State Mixing (3SM) model in which three intrinsic configurations are related to the physical states through an $SO(3)$ rotation. The framework establishes a direct connection between experimental observables, configuration-mixing amplitudes, and intrinsic properties, while the experimentally known excitation energies allow the corresponding effective Hamiltonian and interaction strengths to be reconstructed. The model is applied to the low-lying structure of $^{116}$Sn using electromagnetic matrix elements recently determined through a comprehensive Coulomb-excitation measurement. The analysis identifies three intrinsic configurations characterized by spherical, weakly oblate, and strongly deformed triaxial shapes, together with substantial configuration mixing among the physical $0^+$ states. The present formulation provides a general phenomenological framework for investigating systems in which multiple configurations coexist and strongly interact.