The three-body continuum Coulomb problem and the 3α structure of 12C

We introduce an approach, based on the coordinate space Faddeev equations, to solve the quantum mechanical three-body Coulomb problem in the continuum. We apply the approach to compute measured properties of the first two 0+ levels in 12C, including the width of the excited level, in a 3α-particle model. We use the two-body interaction which reproduces the low energy α-α scattering data and add a three-body force to account for the compound state admixture.