A variational wave function constructed with correlated hyperspherical harmonic functions is used to describe the Helium trimer. This system is known to have a deep bound state. In addition, different potential models predict the existence of a shallow excited state that has been identified as an Efimov state. Using the Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle, the energies and wave functions of both bound states have been obtained by solving a generalized eigenvalue problem. The introduction of a suitable correlation factor reduces considerably the dimension of the basis needed to accurately describe the structure of the system. The most recent helium-helium interactions have been investigated.
Cold helium atoms are a unique system in which a single excited three-body Efimov bound state occurs, naturally, without the need for an external magnetic field. While three-body bound-state energies of cold helium atoms have previously been investigated, recent experimental techniques have allowed their structure to also be studied. The weak interaction between helium atoms leads to a helium-helium (dimer) scattering length
a much larger than the helium-helium effective range of interaction
r. This feature is exploited in a theory that systematically expands observables in powers of
r/a, known as short-range effective field theory (SREFT), which has been used successfully to investigate properties of cold-atom systems. Using SREFT, we investigate the average bond length of atoms in the three-body ground state and excited Efimov bound state of cold helium atoms. At leading-order (next-to-leading order) in SREFT, we find the average bond length of the
4He trimer ground state is 8.35(33)
A˚ (10.29(2)
A˚) and the average bond length of the excited
4He trimer Efimov bound state is 103(4)
A˚ (105.3(2)
A˚).