Interaction-induced dimension reduction for bound states in microwave-shielded ultracold molecules
Haitian Wang, Tingting Shi, Xiaoling Cui
Microwave-shielded ultracold molecules provide a powerful platform for exploring quantum physics driven by long-range interactions. However, few-molecule bound states in fully three-dimensional (3D) environments remains largely unexplored. Here we show that the tetratomic and hexatomic bound states of 3D ultracold molecules dressed by a single elliptic microwave field can be accurately described by effective one-dimensional (1D) models incorporating high-order angular fluctuations. We identify the validity region of such 1D description in the parameter plane of microwave field ellipticity and coupling strength. The hard-core character of 1D models enables a duality between bosonic and fermionic molecules in real and spectral space, while their momentum distributions remain distinct. Our results demonstrate an effective dimension reduction purely due to the intrinsic interaction anisotropy rather than any external confinement. Extending to large systems, our results suggest a self-bound single-molecule array as the ground state of both bosonic and fermionic molecular gases. The authors establish an effective 1D description for 3D ultracold molecules dressed by an elliptic microwave field. The revealed tetratomic and hexatomic bound states exhibit an unexpected Bose-Fermi duality and point to the formation of self-bound single-molecule array when extending to large systems of both bosonic and fermionic molecules.
arXiv:2511.09856•Communications Physics•May 15, 2026•1 citation