One- and two-quasiparticle states in the complex energy plane

One- and two-quasiparticle states are studied in the complex energy plane. It is found that the pairing interaction does not change the character of the complex state. If a normal state is a physically meaningful resonance, then it will remain as such throughout the shell and if it is unphysical it will also remain as such throughout the shell. An important consequence of this is that it justifies the use of bound representations to evaluate many-body systems within the shell-model in cases where the single-particle states are narrow resonances. The character of two-quasiparticle states may oscillate between meaningful resonances and unphysical complex excitations as the number of particles increases.