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arXiv:2604.13755 · EPJ Web of Conferences

Scattering lengths beyond the nuclear scale and the Efimov effect

F. Miguel Marqués Moreno

Published Jan 1, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

The interaction of neutrons and nuclei at low energies may potentially lead to scattering lengths several orders of magnitude larger than the effective range of the interaction, well beyond the nuclear scale. If such cases existed, they could lead to the observation of the Efimov effect in nuclei, a remarkable universal phenomenon that has been observed only in atoms. The interaction parameters of neutrons scattering off unstable nuclei can be explored in neutron-nucleus systems created after the fast removal of a few nucleons from a slightly heavier beam. The case of the 17 B- n system is considered, and the implications of its potentially huge scattering length on the structure of 19 B as a 17 B- n - n Efimov trimer is discussed.

DOI
10.1051/epjconf/202638602003

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The interaction of neutrons and nuclei at low energies may potentially lead to scattering lengths several orders of magnitude larger than the effective range of the interaction, well beyond the nuclear scale. If such cases existed, they could lead to the observation of the Efimov effect in nuclei, a remarkable universal phenomenon that has been observed only in atoms. The interaction parameters of neutrons scattering off unstable nuclei can be explored in neutron-nucleus systems created after the fast removal of a few nucleons from a slightly heavier beam. The case of the 17 B- n system is considered, and the implications of its potentially huge scattering length on the structure of 19 B as a 17 B- n - n Efimov trimer is discussed.
Some aspects of universal properties are discussed in few-atom as well as in few- nucleon systems. When the two-body scattering length a is large the three-body system presents some peculiar characteristics such as the Efimov effect. In the present contribution, the zerorange theory deduced by V. Efimov is compared to results obtained using potential models. Accordingly range corrections are introduced. These corrections appear as a shift in the variable K * a with K * the three-body parameter. The three-boson spectrum, atom-dimer scattering and the recombination rate at threshold are analyzed using the finite-range theory proposed. In the case of nuclear systems, n – d scattering is discussed using the universal formula derived by Efimov. Furthermore, the spectrum up to N = 6 is discussed using the central Volkov potential.
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.
I discuss the impact of a finite effective range, r, on systems with a large two-body scattering length, a. In particular, I show how observables can be written as an expansion around the “universal”, or large-scatteringlength limit. The parameter governing this expansion is the ratio r/a. In few-nucleon systems the ratio r/a has a value of about 1/3, and so such corrections are essential in producing good agreement between theory and data. Hence, I first show how these effects range play a key role in making the so-called “pionless” effective field theory a successful descriptor of low-energy processes in the NN system. I then move to the NNN system, and review predictions for the energy-dependence of observables there. However, the beautiful Efimov physics associated with the presence of a large scattering length is not fully revealed in the NNN system, precisely because r/a corrections are large. I therefore turn to cold atomic gases and show that there are some important recent experiments where physics “beyond universality” affects the data. In the process I demonstrate that an additional piece of short-distance physics is necessary to renormalize scattering-length-dependent observables in the three-body system once corrections ∼ r are considered. Finally, I discuss recent initial efforts to compute r/a corrections to the predictions of universality for the four-body system.
Using potential models, we analyze range corrections to the universal law dictated by the Efimov theory of three bosons. In the case of finite-range interactions, we have observed that at first order, it is necessary to supplement the theory with one finite-range parameter ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{n}^{3}$ for each specific nnn level [A. Kievsky and M. Gattobigio, Phys. Rev. A 87, 052719 (2013)]. The value of ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{n}^{3}$ depends on the way the potentials are changed to tune the scattering length toward the unitary limit. In this work, we analyze a particular path in which the length ${r}_{B}=a\ensuremath{-}{a}_{B}$, measuring the difference between the two-body scattering length aaa and the energy-scattering length aB{a}_{B}aB​, is almost constant. Analyzing systems with very different scales, such as atomic or nuclear systems, we observe that the finite-range parameter remains almost constant along the path with a numerical value of ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}}_{0}^{3}\ensuremath{\approx}0.87$ for the ground-state level. This observation suggests the possibility of constructing a single universal function that incorporates finite-range effects for this class of paths. The result is used to estimate the three-body parameter ${\ensuremath{\kappa}}_{*}$ in the case of real atomic systems brought to the unitary limit through broad Feshbach resonances. Furthermore, we show that the finite-range parameter can be put in relation to the two-body contact C2{C}_{2}C2​ at the unitary limit.
We investigate the sss-wave three-body system of two neutrons and one flavored meson with total spin-isospin J=0,I=3/2J=0,I=3/2J=0,I=3/2. The meson-neutron scattering length can become infinitely large when extrapolated to an unphysical region of the quark mass between strangeness and charm in the so-called zero coupling limit. Using a low-energy cluster effective field theory, we demonstrate that the Efimov effect is formally manifest in the three-body system when the meson-neutron scattering length approaches the unitary limit of the two-body interaction. We thereby discuss the consequence of remnant universal physics in the physical ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}nn$ and D0nn{D}^{0}nnD0nn systems.