Triple configuration coexistence inS44

The neutron-rich $N=28$ nucleus $^{44}\mathrm{S}$ was studied using the two-proton knockout reaction from $^{46}\mathrm{Ar}$ at intermediate beam energy. We report the observation of four new excited states, one of which is a strongly prolate deformed 4${}^{+}$ state, as indicated by a shell-model calculation. Its deformation originates in a neutron configuration which is fundamentally different from the ``intruder'' configuration responsible for the ground-state deformation. Consequently, we do not have three coexisting shapes in $^{44}\mathrm{S}$, but three coexisting configurations, corresponding to zero-, one-, and two-neutron particle-hole excitations.