The volume-dependence of a shallow three-particle bound state in the cubic box with a size $L$ is studied. It is shown that, in the unitary limit, the energy-level shift from the infinite-volume position is given by $\Delta E=c (\kappa^2/m)\,(\kappa L)^{-3/2}|A|^2 \exp(-2\kappa L/\sqrt{3})$, where $\kappa$ is the bound-state momentum and $|A|^2$ denotes the three-body analog of the asymptotic normalization constant, which encodes the information about the short-range interactions in the three-body system.
The volume-dependence of a shallow three-particle bound state in the cubic box with a size L is studied. It is shown that, in the unitary limit, the energy-level shift from the infinite-volume position is given by ΔE=c(κ2/m)(κL)−3/2∣A∣2exp(−2κL/3), where κ is the bound-state momentum and ∣A∣2 denotes the three-body analog of the asymptotic normalization constant, which encodes the information about the short-range interactions in the three-body system.
The spectrum of a bound state of three identical particles with a mass m in a finite cubic box is studied. It is shown that in the unitary limit, the energy shift of a shallow bound state is given by $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}E=c({\ensuremath{\kappa}}^{2}/m)(\ensuremath{\kappa}L{)}^{\ensuremath{-}3/2}|A{|}^{2}\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}2\ensuremath{\kappa}L/\sqrt{3})$, where $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ is the bound-state momentum, L is the box size, ∣A∣2 denotes the three-body analog of the asymptotic normalization coefficient of the bound state wave function, and c is a numerical constant. The formula is valid for $\ensuremath{\kappa}L\ensuremath{\gg}1$.
The universal properties of a three-boson system with large scattering length are well understood within the framework of Effective Field Theory. They include a geometric spectrum of shallow three-body bound states called “Efimov states” and log-periodic dependence of scattering observables on the scattering length. We investigate the modification of this spectrum in a finite cubic box using a partial wave expansion. The dependence of the binding energies on the box size is calculated for systems with positive and negative two-body scattering length. We compare the full results to results obtained using an expansion around the infinite volume binding energy. The renormalization of the Effective Field Theory in the finite volume is verified explicitly.
In this work, three-body bound states were studied in finite volume using an Effective Field Theory framework. The finite volumes under consideration are cubic volumes with periodic boundary conditions. The Effective Field Theory framework used in this work employs only contact interactions and is particularly well suited for studies of universal properties, i.e. properties independent of the details of the interaction on short distances. A particular example in the three-body sector is the Efimov effect, the emergence of a geometrically spaced bound state spectrum. In the first part, systems of three identical bosons are investigated. As a consequence of the breakdown of the spherical symmetry to cubic symmetry, the partial waves of the bound state amplitude are coupled. An infinite set of coupled integral equations for these partial waves is derived. These equations have to be solved numerically in order to obtain the binding energies in the finite volume. The dependence of the energies on the box size is calculated and the results are explicitly verified to be renormalized. Results for positive and negative scattering lengths are shown. The effects of higher partial waves are investigated. The behavior of shallow trimers near the dimer energy as well as deeply bound trimers is studied. The shallowest state investigated crosses the dimer energy at a certain volume and behaves like a scattering state for smaller volumes. Numerical evidence for a universal scaling of the finite volume corrections is provided. Subsequently, the formalism is extended to systems of three nucleons. This case provides the main motivation for this work due to its applicability to Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) calculations of the triton. Such calculations always take place inside a finite volume which makes control over the corresponding effects crucial for an understanding of results from the lattice. For the triton, there are two coupled channels already in the infinite volume corresponding to two different spin-isospin combinations. An infinite set of coupled integral equations for the partial waves of the bound state amplitudes is derived. The renormalization of all results is again explicitly verified. The physical triton inside a finite volume is investigated as well as the triton spectrum for unphysical pion masses. The former case qualitatively shows the same behavior as the three-boson case, and the volume dependence is calculated. The smallest volumes investigated are of the order of magnitude typical for present day Lattice calculations. The motivation for the latter part is twofold. On the one hand, Lattice QCD calculations are performed at pion masses larger than the physical one for computational reasons. On the other hand, it has been conjectured that QCD is close to the critical trajectory for an infrared renormalization group limit cycle, in which case the Efimov effect would occur for a critical pion mass. Close to this critical pion mass, the triton has excited states. The behavior of the ground state and of the excited states inside a finite volume is investigated for various pion masses around the critical one. The excited states cross the energy of the bound di-nucleon, as it was already observed for the shallowest bosonic trimer. The results for the ground state were used to provide strong numerical evidence for a universal scaling of the finite volume corrections.
The low-energy scattering of three bosons or distinguishable particles with short-range interactions is characterized by a fundamental parameter, the three-body scattering hypervolume, which is responsible for the nonuniversal effects in dilute Bose-Einstein condensates. We derive an analytical formula of the three-body scattering hypervolumes for weak interactions. When the interaction supports two-body bound states, the three-body scattering hypervolume gains a negative imaginary part, which is directly related to the rate constant for three-body recombinations. We develop a numerical method to calculate the three-body scattering hypervolumes for some model potentials with variable strengths. For real atoms with van der Waals potential, the three-body scattering hypervolumes are much harder to compute, because the three-body wave function is highly oscillatory at smaller inter-atomic distances. However, they may be extractable from precision data such as the collective-mode frequencies of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. In many numerical simulations, the system being simulated is put into a large but finite volume, such as a large periodic box of size L. To extract the low-energy scattering properties of two particles in infinite space from such simulations, L\\"uscher's formula must be used. In the second part of this thesis, we generalize L\\"uscher's formula to d spatial dimensions. We obtain its s-wave and p-wave approximations and the systematic expansions of the energies of the low-lying states. At a s-wave resonance in dge4 dimensions, we identify two low-lying states close to the threshold with nearly opposite energies, Esimpm1/Ld/2 when dge5, or Esimpm1/L2sqrtlnL when d=4. These calculations provide important insights to the physics of three particles at a three-body resonance in finite volumes in two or three dimensions. Three-body resonances are important phenomena not yet completely explored in the experiments on cold atoms.
We study the wave function φ(3) of three identical bosons scattering at zero energy, zero total momentum, and zero orbital angular momentum in two dimensions, interacting via short-range potentials with a finite two-body scattering length a. We derive asymptotic expansions of φ(3) in two regimes: the 111-expansion, where all three pairwise distances are large, and the 21-expansion, where one particle is far from the other two. In the 111-expansion, the leading term grows as ln3(B/a) at large hyperradius B=(s12+s22+s32)/2. At order B−2ln−3(B/a), we identify a three-body parameter D with dimension of length squared, which we term the three-body scattering area. This quantity should be contrasted with the three-body scattering area previously studied for infinite or vanishing two-body scattering length. If the two-body interaction is attractive and supports bound states, D acquires a negative imaginary part, and we derive its relation to the probability amplitudes for the production of two-body bound states in three-body collisions. Under weak modifications of the interaction potentials, we derive the corresponding shift of D in terms of φ(3) and the changes of the two-body and three-body potentials. We also study the effects of D and φ(3) on three-body and many-body physics, including the three-body ground-state energy in a large periodic volume, the many-body energy and the three-body correlation function of the dilute two-dimensional Bose gas, and the three-body recombination rates of two-dimensional ultracold atomic Bose gases.
Using non-relativistic effective Lagrangians in the particle-dimer picture, we rederive the expression for the energy shift of a loosely bound three-particle bound state of identical bosons in the unitary limit. The effective field theory formalism allows us to explicitly investigate the role of the three-particle force. Moreover, we discuss relaxing the unitary limit of infinite scattering length and demonstrate a smooth transition from the weakly bound three-particle state to a two-particle bound state of a particle and a deeply bound dimer.