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arXiv:1001.1981 · Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science

Efimov States in Nuclear and Particle Physics

H.‐W. Hammer, Lucas Platter

Published Oct 22, 2010• 123 citations
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Abstract

Particles with resonant short-range interactions have universal properties that do not depend on the details of their structure or their interactions at short distances. In the three-body system, these properties include the existence of a geometric spectrum of three-body Efimov states and a discrete scaling symmetry, which leads to log-periodic dependence of observables on the scattering length. Similar universal properties appear in the four-body system and possibly higher-body systems as well. For example, universal four-body states have recently been predicted and observed in experiments. These phenomena are often referred to as Efimov physics. We review their theoretical description and discuss applications in different areas of physics with a special emphasis on nuclear and particle physics.

DOI
10.1146/annurev.nucl.012809.104439

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Particles with resonant short-range interactions have universal properties that do not depend on the details of their structure or their interactions at short distances. In the three-body system, these properties include the existence of a geometric spectrum of three-body Efimov states and a discrete scaling symmetry, which leads to log-periodic dependence of observables on the scattering length. Similar universal properties appear in the four-body system and possibly higher-body systems as well. For example, universal four-body states have recently been predicted and observed in experiments. These phenomena are often referred to as Efimov physics. We review their theoretical description and discuss applications in different areas of physics with a special emphasis on nuclear and particle physics.
Few-body systems with resonant short-range interactions display universal properties that do not depend on the details of their structure or their interactions at short distances. In the three-body system, these properties include the existence of a geometric spectrum of three-body Efimov states and a discrete scaling symmetry. Similar universal properties appear in 4-body and possibly higher-body systems as well. We set up an effective theory for few-body systems in a harmonic trap and study the modification of universal physics for 3- and 4-particle systems in external confinement. In particular, we focus on systems where the Efimov effect can occur and investigate the dependence of the 4-body spectrum on the experimental tuning parameters.
Physical systems characterized by a shallow two-body bound or virtual state are governed at large distances by continuous scale invariance, which is broken into discrete scale invariance when three or more particles come into play. This symmetry induces a universal behavior for different systems that is independent of the details of the underlying interaction and rooted in the smallness of the ratio ℓ/ a B ≪ 1, where the length a B is associated with the binding energy of the two-body system [Formula: see text], and ℓ is the natural length given by the interaction range. Efimov physics refers to this universal behavior, which is often hidden by the onset of system-specific nonuniversal effects. In this review, we identify universal properties by providing an explicit link of physical systems to their unitary limit, in which a B → ∞, and we show that nuclear systems belong to this class of universality.
Effective Field Theory (EFT) provides a powerful framework to exploit a separation of scales in order to perform systematically improvable, model-independent calculations. We apply this method to strongly interacting quantum systems with short-range interactions and large scattering length. Such systems display remarkable universal properties which include a geometric spectrum of shallow three-body states called "Efimov states" and log-periodic dependence of scattering observables on the scattering length. We review the EFT for large scattering length and some of its applications in the physics of cold atoms and nuclear physics. In particular, we discuss the possibility of an infrared limit cycle in QCD and the extension of the EFT to halo nuclei.
Effective Field Theory (EFT) provides a powerful framework to exploit a separation of scales in order to perform systematically improvable, model-independent calculations. We apply this method to strongly interacting quantum systems with short-range interactions and large scattering length. Such systems display remarkable universal properties which include a geometric spectrum of shallow three-body called Efimov states and log-periodic dependence of scattering observables on the scattering length. We review the EFT for large scattering length and some of its applications in the physics of cold atoms and nuclear physics. In particular, we discuss the possibility of an infrared limit cycle in QCD and the extension of the EFT to halo nuclei.
Atoms with a large scattering length have universal low-energy properties that do not depend on the details of their structure or their interactions at short distances. In the 2-atom sector, the universal properties are familiar and depend only on the scattering length. In the 3-atom sector for identical bosons, the universal properties include the existence of a sequence of shallow triatomic molecules called Efimov trimers and log-periodic dependence of scattering observables on the energy and the scattering length. In this review, we summarize the universal results that are currently known. We also summarize the experimental information that is currently available with an emphasis on 3-atom loss processes.
Universal behavior has been found inside the window of Efimov physics for systems with N=4,5,6N=4,5,6N=4,5,6 particles. Efimov physics refers to the emergence of a number of three-body states in systems of identical bosons interacting via a short-range interaction becoming infinite at the verge of binding two particles. These Efimov states display a discrete scale invariance symmetry, with the scaling factor independent of the microscopic interaction. Their energies in the limit of zero-range interaction can be parametrized, as a function of the scattering length, by a universal function. We have found, using the form of finite-range scaling introduced by A. Kievsky and M. Gattobigio [Phys. Rev A 87, 052719 (2013)], that the same universal function can be used to parametrize the ground and excited energy of $N\ensuremath{\le}6$ systems inside the Efimov-physics window. Moreover, we show that the same finite-scale analysis reconciles experimental measurements of three-body binding energies with the universal theory.