Two problems in many-body physics

Dmitry S. Petrov

This chapter discusses the few-body problem, which plays a very important role in the physics of ultracold gases. It describes the structure of molecules and their formation in three-body collisions (three-body recombination), atom-molecule and molecule-molecule collisional properties, structure of trimers and larger clusters, numerous phenomena that go under the name of Efimov physics, and many other problems. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 3.2 discusses the effective range expansion for the two-body scattering amplitude and puts a special emphasis on the role of the resonance width. Section 3.3 applies the zero-range approach to the problem of three atoms. It considers the phenomenon of the three-body collapse, or Thomas collapse, and defines the Efimov effect. Then, it introduces a model system of one light and two heavy atoms, where we can use the Born‐Oppenheimer approximation. Section 3.4 describes the method of Skorniakov and Ter‐Martirosian (STM) for few-body problems with resonant short-range interactions. Section 3.5 considers other rapidly developing directions in theoretical few-atom physics.

G.M. Vagradov

Sergej Moroz

In this thesis nonrelativistic few-body quantum physics is investigated with the method of functional renormalization. In particular, we discuss different theoretical aspects of few-body physics related to the Efimov effect. Our central finding is that this effect manifests itself as a renormalization group limit cycle. First, we treat the problem of a singular, inverse square potential in quantum mechanics. Then we examine the original Efimov problem of three particles interacting via a short-range two-body potential. Subsequently, we present a first step towards the renormalization group solution of the four-body quantum problem for bosons. Finally, a general theoretical feature of the Efimov physics, composite operators with complex scaling dimensions, are discussed.

N. H. March, William H. L. Young, S. Sampanthar +1 more

Y.E. Kim, Alexander L. Zubarev