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IOSR Journal of Applied Physics

Efimov Effect in a Three body System

Vandana Arora

Published Jul 1, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The quantum three body problem generally has its own complexities and is difficult to solve. It requires rigorous steps and iterations to find the solution. We often encounter three body system in various branches of physics including Nuclear Physics, Particle, Atomic, Molecular physics, and condensed matter. The underlying physics involved is quite complicated. Faddeev in 1961 made a successful attempt and formulated theory of three particle scattering in a rather rigorous mathematical way. Efimov developed a method that enabled one to obtain the universal properties of three particle system and is quite independent of the two body potentials. This article attempts to introduce Efimov effect. The formalism and the salient features are also discussed.

DOI
10.9790/4861-1704010406

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The quantum three body problem generally has its own complexities and is difficult to solve. It requires rigorous steps and iterations to find the solution. We often encounter three body system in various branches of physics including Nuclear Physics, Particle, Atomic, Molecular physics, and condensed matter. The underlying physics involved is quite complicated. Faddeev in 1961 made a successful attempt and formulated theory of three particle scattering in a rather rigorous mathematical way. Efimov developed a method that enabled one to obtain the universal properties of three particle system and is quite independent of the two body potentials. This article attempts to introduce Efimov effect. The formalism and the salient features are also discussed.
Abstract This review article presents historical developments and recent advances in our understanding on the three-body forces and Efimov physics, from an interdisciplinary viewpoint encompassing nuclear physics and cold atoms. Theoretical attempts to elucidate the three-body force with the chiral effective field theory are explained, followed by an overview of experiments aimed at observing signatures of the nuclear three-body force. Some recent experimental and theoretical works in the field of cold atoms devoted to measuring and engineering three-body forces among atoms are also presented. As a phenomenon arising from the three-body effect, Efimov physics in both cold atoms and nuclear systems is reviewed.
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.
We discuss several issues important for experimentally observing Efimov physics in ultracold quantum gases. By numerically solving the three-boson Schrödinger equation over a broad range of scattering lengths and energies, and by including model potentials with multiple bound states, we address the complications of relating experimental observations to available analytic expressions. These more realistic potentials introduce features that can mask the predicted Efimov physics at small scattering lengths. They also allow us to verify that positive and negative scattering lengths are universally connected only across a pole, not across a zero. Additionally, we show that the spacing between Efimov features for the relatively small scattering lengths accessible experimentally fails to precisely follow the geometric progression expected for Efimov physics. Finally, we emphasize the importance of the short-range three-body physics in determining the position of Efimov features and show that theoretically reproducing two-body physics is not generally sufficient to predict three-body properties quantitatively.
Particles with resonant short-range interactions have universal properties that do not depend on the details of their structure or their interactions at short distances. In the three-body system, these properties include the existence of a geometric spectrum of three-body Efimov states and a discrete scaling symmetry, which leads to log-periodic dependence of observables on the scattering length. Similar universal properties appear in the four-body system and possibly higher-body systems as well. For example, universal four-body states have recently been predicted and observed in experiments. These phenomena are often referred to as Efimov physics. We review their theoretical description and discuss applications in different areas of physics with a special emphasis on nuclear and particle physics.
We analyse the recent experiments investigating the low-energy physics of three lithium 6 atoms in three different internal states with resonant two-body scattering lengths. All observed features are qualitatively consistent with the expected Efimov effect, i.e. the effective universal three-body attraction that arises for large values of the scattering lengths. However, we find that a quantitative description at negative energy requires non-universal two- and three-body corrections due to presently unknown behaviour at short distance. An attempt to implement these corrections is made through energy-dependent parameters that are fitted to the experimental data.
In recent years extensive theoretical and experimental studies of universal few-body physics have advanced our understanding of universal Efimov physics. Whereas theory had been the driving force behind our understanding of Efimov physics for decades, recent experiments have contributed an unexpected discovery. Specifically, measurements have found that the so-called three-body parameter determining several properties of the system is universal, even though fundamental assumptions in the theory of the Efimov effect suggest that it should be a variable property that depends on the precise details of the short-range two- and three-body interactions. The present Letter resolves this apparent contradiction by elucidating previously unanticipated implications of the two-body interactions. Our study shows that the three-body parameter universality emerges because a universal effective barrier in the three-body potentials prevents the three particles from simultaneously getting close together. Our results also show limitations on this universality, as it is more likely to occur for neutral atoms but less likely to extend to light nuclei.