Few-body physics in effective field theory

Effective Field Theory (EFT) provides a powerful framework that exploits a separation of scales in physical systems to perform systematically improvable, model-independent calculations. Particularly interesting are few-body systems with short-range interactions and large two-body scattering length. Such systems display remarkable universal features. In systems with more than two particles, a three-body force with limit cycle behavior is required for consistent renormalization already at leading order. We will review this EFT and some of its applications in the physics of cold atoms and nuclear physics. In particular, we will discuss the possibility of an infrared limit cycle in QCD. Recent extensions of the EFT approach to the four-body system and N-boson droplets in two spatial dimensions will also be addressed.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the INT Workshop on "Nuclear Forces and the Quantum Many-Body Problem", Oct. 200

Universality in Few-Body Systems

Low-energy universality in atomic few-body systems as a result of a large two-body scattering length has gained a lot of attention recently. Here, I discuss recent progress in describing the three-body recombination of cold atoms in terms of a finite set of universal scaling functions and review results for the recombination length of cesium-133 atoms obtained with these functions. Furthermore, I will consider the inclusion of effective range corrections and the relevance for further calculations in atomic and nuclear physics.Comment: Plenary talk at 20th European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (EFB 20), Pisa, Italy, 10-14 Sep 2007, FBS style, 2 figue

Nonuniversal Effects in the Homogeneous Bose Gas

Effective field theory predicts that the leading nonuniversal effects in the homogeneous Bose gas arise from the effective range for S-wave scattering and from an effective three-body contact interaction. We calculate the leading nonuniversal contributions to the energy density and condensate fraction and compare the predictions with results from diffusion Monte Carlo calculations by Giorgini, Boronat, and Casulleras. We give a crude determination of the strength of the three-body contact interaction for various model potentials. Accurate determinations could be obtained from diffusion Monte Carlo calculations of the energy density with higher statistics.Comment: 24 pages, RevTex, 5 ps figures, included with epsf.te

Universal Equation for Efimov States

Efimov states are a sequence of shallow 3-body bound states that arise when the 2-body scattering length is large. Efimov showed that the binding energies of these states can be calculated in terms of the scattering length and a 3-body parameter by solving a transcendental equation involving a universal function of one variable. We calculate this universal function using effective field theory and use it to describe the three-body system of 4He atoms. We also extend Efimov's theory to include the effects of deep 2-body bound states, which give widths to the Efimov states.Comment: 8 pages, revtex4, 2 ps figures, table with numerical values of universal function adde

On the modification of the Efimov spectrum in a finite cubic box

Three particles with large scattering length display a universal spectrum of three-body bound states called "Efimov trimers''. We calculate the modification of the Efimov trimers of three identical bosons in a finite cubic box and compute the dependence of their energies on the box size using effective field theory. Previous calculations for positive scattering length that were perturbative in the finite volume energy shift are extended to arbitrarily large shifts and negative scattering lengths. The renormalization of the effective field theory in the finite volume is explicitly verified. Moreover, we investigate the effects of partial wave mixing and study the behavior of shallow trimers near the dimer energy. Finally, we provide numerical evidence for universal scaling of the finite volume corrections.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, published versio

A Model Study of Discrete Scale Invariance and Long-Range Interactions

We investigate the modification of discrete scale invariance in the bound state spectrum by long-range interactions. This problem is relevant for effective field theory descriptions of nuclear cluster states and manifestations of the Efimov effect in nuclei. As a model system, we choose a one dimensional inverse square potential supplemented with a long-range Coulomb interaction. We study the renormalization and bound-state spectrum of the system as a function of the Coulomb interaction strength. Our results indicate, that the counterterm required to renormalize the inverse square potential alone is sufficient to renormalize the full problem. However, the breaking of the discrete scale invariance through the Coulomb interaction leads to a modified bound state spectrum. The shallow bound states are strongly influenced by the Coulomb interaction while the deep bound states are dominated by the inverse square potential.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, EPJ style, published versio

Renormalization of the Three-Body System with Short-Range Interactions

We discuss renormalization of the non-relativistic three-body problem with short-range forces. The problem becomes non-perturbative at momenta of the order of the inverse of the two-body scattering length, and an infinite number of graphs must be summed. This summation leads to a cutoff dependence that does not appear in any order in perturbation theory. We argue that this cutoff dependence can be absorbed in a single three-body counterterm and compute the running of the three-body force with the cutoff. We comment on relevance of this result for the effective field theory program in nuclear and molecular physics.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex, 4 PS figures included with epsf.sty, some clarifying comments added, version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

The Three-Boson System at Next-To-Next-To-Leading Order

We discuss effective field theory treatments of the problem of three particles interacting via short-range forces (range R >> a_2, with a_2 the two-body scattering length). We show that forming a once-subtracted scattering equation yields a scattering amplitude whose low-momentum part is renormalization-group invariant up to corrections of O(R^3/a_2^3). Since corrections of O(R/a_2) and O(R^2/a_2^2) can be straightforwardly included in the integral equation's kernel, a unique solution for 1+2 scattering phase shifts and three-body bound-state energies can be obtained up to this accuracy. We use our equation to calculate the correlation between the binding energies of Helium-4 trimers and the atom-dimer scattering length. Our results are in excellent agreement with the recent three-dimensional Faddeev calculations of Roudnev and collaborators that used phenomenological inter-atomic potentials.Comment: 20 pages, 3 eps figure

Universality in the Three-Body Problem for 4He Atoms

The two-body scattering length a for 4He atoms is much larger than their effective range r_s. As a consequence, low-energy few-body observables have universal characteristics that are independent of the interaction potential. Universality implies that, up to corrections suppressed by r_s/a, all low-energy three-body observables are determined by a and a three-body parameter \Lambda_*. We give simple expressions in terms of a and \Lambda_* for the trimer binding energy equation, the atom-dimer scattering phase shifts, and the rate for three-body recombination at threshold. We determine \Lambda_* for several 4He potentials from the calculated binding energy of the excited state of the trimer and use it to obtain the universality predictions for the other low-energy observables. We also use the calculated values for one potential to estimate the effective range corrections for the other potentials.Comment: 23 pages, revtex4, 6 ps figures, references added, universal expressions update

Strangeness in the nucleon and the ratio of proton-to-neutron neutrino-induced quasi-elastic yield

The electroweak form factors of the nucleon as obtained within a three flavor pseudoscalar vector meson soliton model are employed to predict the ratio of the proton and neutron yields from $^{12}C$, which are induced by quasi-elastic neutrino reactions. These predictions are found to vary only moderately in the parameter space allowed by the model. The antineutrino flux of the up-coming experiment determining this ratio was previously overestimated. The corresponding correction is shown to have only a small effect on the predicted ratio. However, it is found that the experimental result for the ratio crucially depends on an accurate measurement of the energy of the knocked out nucleon.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 2 tables, 4 figures, Discussion on shape of strange form factors added, Z. Phys. A, to be publishe