Few-body universality: Efimov effect and its application and extension

Yusuke Nishida

Vidya Sagar Bhasin, I. Mazumdar

Yusuke Nishida

Wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics allows for a halo bound state whose spatial extension far exceeds a range of the interaction potential. What is even more striking is that such quantum halos can be arbitrarily large on special occasions. The two examples known so far are the Efimov effect and the super Efimov effect, which predict that spatial extensions of higher excited states grow exponentially and double exponentially, respectively. Here, we establish yet another new class of arbitrarily large quantum halos formed by spinless bosons with short-range interactions in two dimensions. When the two-body interaction is absent but the three-body interaction is resonant, four bosons exhibit an infinite tower of bound states whose spatial extensions scale as R_{n}∼e^{(πn)^{2}/27} for a large n. The emergent scaling law is universal and is termed a semisuper Efimov effect, which together with the Efimov and super Efimov effects constitutes a trio of few-body universality classes allowing for arbitrarily large quantum halos.

Jia Wang, José Paulo D'Incao, Brett D. Esry +1 more

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.

J. P. D’Incao, J. Wang, Brett D. Esry +1 more

A. S. Jensen, D. V. Fedorov, R. Álvarez-Rodríguez +1 more