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 leading 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 experiment. 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 investigate the effects of the nearly fulfilled Efimov conditions on the properties of three-body resonances. Using the hyper-spheric adiabatic expansion method we compute energy distributions of fragments in a three-body decay of a nuclear resonance. As a realistic example we investigate the 1- state in the halo nucleus 11Li within a three-body 9Li+n+n model. Characteristic features appear as sharp peaks in the energy distributions. Their origin, as in the Efimov effect, is in the large two-body s-wave scattering lengths between the pairs of fragments.
Physical systems characterized by a shallow two-body bound or virtual state are governed at large distances by a continuous-scale invariance, which is broken to a discrete one when three or more particles come into play. This symmetry induces a universal behavior for different systems, independent of the details of the underlying interaction, rooted in the smallness of the ratio $\ell/a_B \ll 1$, where the length $a_B$ is associated to the binding energy of the two-body system $E_2=\hbar^2/m a_B^2$ and $\ell$ is the natural length given by the interaction range. Efimov physics refers to this u…
A new narrow 3-atom loss resonance associated with an Efimov trimer crossing the 3-atom threshold has recently been discovered in a many-body system of ultracold 6Li atoms in the three lowest hyperfine spin states at a magnetic field near 895 G. O'Hara and coworkers have used measurements of the 3-body recombination rate in this region to determine the complex 3-body parameter associated with Efimov physics. Using this parameter as the input, we calculate the universal predictions for the spectrum of Efimov states and for the 3-body recombination rate in the universal region above 600 G where …
We discuss the physics of the Efimov effect from a renormalization group viewpoint using the concept of limit cycles. Furthermore, we discuss recent experiments providing evidence for the Efimov effect in ultracold gases and its relevance for nuclear systems.
Efimov physics originally refers to a system of three particles. Here we review recent theoretical progress seeking for manifestations of Efimov physics in systems composed of more than three particles. Clusters of more than three bosons are tied to each Efimov trimer, but no independent Efimov physics exists there beyond three bosons. The case of a few heavy fermions interacting with a lighter atom is also considered, where the mass ratio of the constituent particles plays a significant role. Following Efimov's study of the (2+1) system, the (3+1) system was shown to have its own critical mas…
When two particles attract via a resonant short-range interaction, three particles always form an infinite tower of bound states characterized by a discrete scaling symmetry. It has been considered that this Efimov effect exists only in three dimensions. Here we review how the Efimov physics can be liberated from three dimensions by considering two-body and three-body interactions in mixed dimensions and four-body interaction in one dimension. In such new systems, intriguing phenomena appear, such as confinement-induced Efimov effect, Bose-Fermi crossover in Efimov spectrum, and formation of i…
Efimov states are known to have a discrete real space scale invariance, working in momentum space we identify the relevant discrete scale invariance for the scattering amplitude defining its Weierstrass function as well. Through the use of the mathematical formalism for discrete scale invariance for the scattering amplitude we identify the scaling parameters from the pole structure of the corresponding zeta function, it's zeroth order pole is fixed by the Efimov physics. The corresponding geometrical fractal structure for Efimov physics in momentum space is identified as a ray across a logarit…
Few-body physics related to the Efimov effect is discussed using the functional renormalization group method. After a short review of renormalization in its modern formulation we apply this formalism to the description of scattering and bound states in few-body systems of identical bosons and distinguishable fermions with two and three components. The Efimov effect leads to a limit cycle in the renormalization group flow. Recently measured three-body loss rates in an ultracold Fermi gas $^6$Li atoms are explained within this framework. We also discuss briefly the relation to the many-body phys…
Physics is said to be universal when it emerges regardless of the underlying microscopic details. A prominent example is the Efimov effect, which predicts the emergence of an infinite tower of three-body bound states obeying discrete scale invariance when the particles interact resonantly. Because of its universality and peculiarity, the Efimov effect has been the subject of extensive research in chemical, atomic, nuclear and particle physics for decades. Here we employ an anisotropic Heisenberg model to show that collective excitations in quantum magnets (magnons) also exhibit the Efimov effe…
We calculate the neutron-Calcium-60 S-wave scattering phase shifts using state of the art coupled-cluster theory combined with modern ab initio interactions derived from chiral effective theory. Effects of three-nucleon forces are included schematically as density dependent nucleon-nucleon interactions. This information is combined with halo effective field theory in order to investigate the Calcium-60-neutron-neutron system. We predict correlations between different three-body observables and the two-neutron separation energy of Calcium-62. This provides evidence of Efimov physics along the C…
A general mechanism for the loss of conformal invariance is the merger and disappearance of an infrared fixed point and an ultraviolet fixed point of a renormalization group flow. We show explicitly how this mechanism works in the case of identical bosons at unitarity as the spatial dimension $d$ is varied. For $d$ between the critical dimensions $d_{\rm 1}=2.30$ and $d_{\rm 2}=3.76$, there is loss of conformality as evidenced by the Efimov effect in the three-body sector. The beta function for an appropriate three-body coupling is a quadratic polynomial in that coupling. For $d<d_{\rm 1}$ and…
Universal behaviour has been found inside the window of Efimov physics for systems with $N=4,5,6$ particles. Efimov physics refers to the emergence of a number of three-body states in systems of identical bosons interacting {\it via} a short-range interaction becoming infinite at the verge of binding two particles. These Efimov states display a discrete scale invariance symmetry, with the scaling factor independent of the microscopic interaction. Their energies in the limit of zero-range interaction can be parametrized, as a function of the scattering length, by a universal function. We have f…
Efimov physics is drastically affected by the change of spatial dimensions. Efimov states occur in a tridimensional (3D) environment, but disappear in two (2D) and one (1D) dimensions. In this paper, dedicated to the memory of Prof. Faddeev, we will review some recent theoretical advances related to the effect of dimensionality in the Efimov phenomenon considering three-boson systems interacting by a zero-range potential. We will start with a very ideal case with no physical scales, passing to a system with finite energies in the Born-Oppenheimer (BO) approximation and finishing with a general…
Bosonic atom-trimer scattering is studied in the unitary limit using momentum-space equations for four-particle transition operators. The impact of the Efimov effect on the atom-trimer scattering observables is explored and a number of universal relations is established. Positions and widths of tetramer resonances are determined. Trimer relaxation rate constant is calculated.
Lithium-6 atoms in the three lowest hyperfine states display universal properties when the S-wave scattering length between each pair of states is large. Recent experiments reported four pronounced features arising from Efimov physics in the atom-dimer relaxation rate, namely two resonances and two local minima. We use the universal effective field theory to calculate the atom-dimer relaxation rate at zero temperature. Our results describe the four features qualitatively and imply there is a hidden local minimum. In the vicinity of the resonance at 685 G, we perform a finite temperature calcul…
The Efimov effect is the only experimentally realized universal phenomenon that exhibits the renormalization-group limit cycle with the three-body parameter parametrizing a family of universality classes. Recent experiments in ultracold atoms have unexpectedly revealed that the three-body parameter itself is universal when measured in units of an effective range. By performing an exact functional renormalization-group analysis with various finite-range interaction potentials, we demonstrate that the onset of the renormalization-group flow into the limit cycle is universal, regardless of short-…
Probability distributions for correlation functions of particles interacting via random-valued fields are discussed as a novel tool for determining the spectrum of a theory. In particular, this method is used to determine the energies of universal N-body clusters tied to Efimov trimers, for even N, by investigating the distribution of a correlation function of two particles at unitarity. Using numerical evidence that this distribution is log-normal, an analytical prediction for the N-dependence of the N-body binding energies is made.
This article reviews theoretical and experimental advances in Efimov physics, an array of quantum few-body and many-body phenomena arising for particles interacting via short-range resonant interactions, that is based on the appearance of a scale-invariant three-body attraction theoretically discovered by Vitaly Efimov in 1970. This three-body effect was originally proposed to explain the binding of nuclei such as the triton and the Hoyle state of carbon-12, and later considered as a simple explanation for the existence of some halo nuclei. It was subsequently evidenced in trapped ultra-cold a…
In recent years extensive theoretical and experimental studies of universal few-body physics have led to advances in our understanding of universal Efimov physics [1]. The Efimov effect, once considered a mysterious and esoteric effect, is today a reality that many experiments in ultracold quantum gases have successfully observed and continued to explore [2-14]. Whereas theory was 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 det…
We consider a system of three identical bosons near a Feshbach resonance in the universal regime with large scattering length usually described by model independent zero-range potentials. We employ the adiabatic hyperspherical approximation and derive the rigorous large-distance equation for the adiabatic potential for finite-range interactions. The effective range correction to the zero-range approximation must be supplemented by a new term of the same order. The non-adiabatic term can be decisive. Efimov physics is always confined to the range between effective range and scattering length. T…
Whether the Efimov effect is possible, in principle, for p-wave or higher partial-wave interactions is a fundamental question. Recently, there has been a claim that three nonrelativistic particles with resonant p-wave interactions exhibit the Efimov effect. We point out that the assumed p-wave scattering amplitude inevitably causes a negative probability. This indicates that the Efimov states found there cannot be realized in physical situations. We also restate our previous argument that the Efimov effect, defined as an infinite tower of universal bound states characterized by discrete scale …
We calculate shallow three-body bound states in the universal regime, defined by Efimov, with inclusion of both scattering length and effective range parameters. The universal spectrum is recovered for the least bound states, whereas for larger binding energies we find corrections to the universal scaling laws. We recover known results for broad Feshbach resonances with small effective range, whereas in the case of narrow resonances we find a distinct non-monotonic behavior of the threshold at which the lowest Efimov trimer merges with the three-body continuum. To address the issue of the phys…
The low-energy spectrum of three particles interacting via nearly resonant two-body interactions in the Efimov regime is set by the so-called three-body parameter. We show that the three-body parameter is essentially determined by the zero-energy two-body correlation. As a result, we identify two classes of two-body interactions for which the three-body parameter has a universal value in units of their effective range. One class involves the universality of the three-body parameter recently found in ultracold atom systems. The other is relevant to short-range interactions that can be found in …
We use an effective-field-theory framework to analyze the Efimov effect in heteronuclear three-body systems consisting of two species of atoms with a large interspecies scattering length. In the leading-order description of this theory, various three-body observables in heteronuclear mixtures can be universally parameterized by one three-body parameter. We present the next-to-leading corrections, which include the effects of the finite interspecies effective range and the finite intraspecies scattering length, to various three-body observables. We show that only one additional three-body param…
Three bosons with large scattering length show universal properties that do not depend on the details of the interaction at short distances. In the three-boson system, these properties include a geometric spectrum of shallow three-body states called "Efimov states" and log-periodic dependence of scattering observables on the scattering length. We investigate the modification of the Efimov states in a finite cubic box and calculate the dependence of their energies on the box size using effective field theory. We explicitly verify the renormalization of the effective field theory in the finite v…
We investigate theoretically and experimentally the heteronuclear Efimov scenario for a three-body system that consists of two bosons and one distinguishable particle with positive intraspecies scattering lengths. The three-body parameter at the three-body scattering threshold and the scaling factor between consecutive Efimov resonances are found to be controlled by the scattering length between the two bosons, approximately independent of short-range physics. We observe two excited-state Efimov resonances in the three-body recombination spectra of an ultracold mixture of fermionic $^6 $Li and…
Three-boson Efimov physics is well known in the bound-state regime, but far less in the three-particle continuum at negative two-particle scattering length where Efimov states evolve into resonances. They are studied solving rigorous three-particle scattering equations for transition operators in the momentum space. The dependence of the three-boson resonance energy and width on the two-boson scattering length is studied with several force models. The universal limit is determined numerically considering highly excited states; simple parametrizations for the resonance energy and width in terms…
Efimov physics relates to 3-body systems with large 2-body scattering lengths a and small effective ranges r. For many systems in nature the assumption of a small effective range is not valid. The present report shows binding energies E of three identical bosons calculated with 2-body potentials that are fitted to scattering data and momentum cut-offs (L) by inverse scattering. Results agree with previous works in the case of r<<a. While energies diverge with momentum cut-off L for r=0, they converge for r>0 when L=~10/r. With 1/a=0 the converged energies are given by E(n) =C(n)/r*r with n lab…
In chiral effective field theory the leading order (LO) nucleon-nucleon potential includes two contact terms, in the two spin channels $S=0,1$, and the one-pion-exchange potential. When the pion degrees of freedom are integrated out, as in the pionless effective field theory, the LO potential includes two contact terms only. In the three-nucleon system, the pionless theory includes a three-nucleon contact term interaction at LO whereas the chiral effective theory does not. Accordingly arbitrary differences could be observed in the LO description of three- and four-nucleon binding energies. We …
In few-body physics, Efimov states are an infinite series of three-body bound states that obey universal discrete scaling symmetry when pairwise interactions are resonantly enhanced. Despite abundant reports of Efimov states in recent cold atom experiments, direct observation of the discrete scaling symmetry remains an elusive goal. Here we report the observation of three consecutive Efimov resonances in a heteronuclear Li-Cs mixture near a broad interspecies Feshbach resonance. The positions of the resonances closely follow a geometric series $1$, $λ$, $λ^2$. The observed scaling constant $λ_…
We study two species of particles in two dimensions interacting by isotropic short-range potentials with the interspecies potential fine-tuned to a p-wave resonance. Their universal low-energy physics can be extracted by analyzing a properly constructed low-energy effective field theory with the renormalization group method. Consequently, a three-body system consisting of two particles of one species and one of the other is shown to exhibit the super Efimov effect, the emergence of an infinite tower of three-body bound states with orbital angular momentum $l=\pm1$ whose binding energies obey a…
The stabilization of Cooper pairs of bound electrons in the background of a Fermi sea is the origin of superconductivity and the paradigmatic example of the striking influence of many-body physics on few-body properties. In the quantum-mechanical three-body problem the famous Efimov effect yields unexpected scaling relations among a tower of universal states. These seemingly unrelated problems can now be studied in the same setup thanks to the success of ultracold atomic gas experiments. In light of the tremendous effect of a background Fermi sea on two-body properties, a natural question is w…
Atoms with a large scattering length have universal low-energy properties that do not depend on the details of their structure or their interactions at short distances. In the 2-atom sector, the universal properties are familiar and depend only on the scattering length. In the 3-atom sector for identical bosons, the universal properties include the existence of a sequence of shallow triatomic molecules called Efimov trimers and log-periodic dependence of scattering observables on the energy and the scattering length. In this review, we summarize the universal results that are currently known. …
The structure of few-fermion systems having $1/2$ spin-isospin symmetry is studied using potential models. The strength and range of the two-body potentials are fixed to describe low energy observables in the angular momentum $L=0$ state and spin $S=0,1$ channels of the two-body system. Successively the strength of the potentials are varied in order to explore energy regions in which the two-body scattering lengths are close to the unitary limit. This study is motivated by the fact that in the nuclear system the singlet and triplet scattering lengths are both large with respect to the range of…
The emergence of Efimov levels in a three-body system is investigated near the unitarity limit characterized by resonating two-body interaction. No direct evidence of Efimov levels is seen in the three-nucleon system since the triton is the only physical bound state. We provide a model-independent analysis of nucleon-deuteron scattering at low energy by formulating a consistent effective field theory. We show that virtual states evolve into shallow bound states, which emerge as excited triton levels as we drive the system towards unitarity. Even though we consider this specific system, our res…
Using potential models we analyze range corrections to the universal law dictated by the Efimov theory of three bosons. In the case of finite-range interactions we have observed that, at first order, it is necessary to supplement the theory with one finite-range parameter, $Γ_n^3$, for each specific $n$-level [Kievsky and Gattobigio, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 87}, 052719 (2013)]. The value of $Γ_n^3$ depends on the way the potentials is changed to tune the scattering length toward the unitary limit. In this work we analyze a particular path in which the length $r_B=a-a_B$, measuring the difference bet…
A numerical study of the Faddeev equation for bosons is made with two-body interactions at or close to the Unitary limit. Separable interactions are obtained from phase-shifts defined by scattering length and effective range. In EFT-language this would correspond to NLO. Both ground and Efimov state energies are calculated. For effective ranges $r_0 > 0$ and rank-1 potentials the total energy $E_T$ is found to converge with momentum cut-off $Λ$ for $Λ> \sim 10/r_0$ . In the Unitary limit ($1/a=r_0= 0$) the energy does however diverge. It is shown (analytically) that in this case $E_T=E_uΛ^2$. …
Continuum structures of three short-range interacting particles in a deformed external one-body field are investigated. We use the equivalent $d$-method employing non-integer dimension, $d$, in a spherical calculation with a dimension-dependent angular momentum barrier. We focus on dimensions close to the critical dimension, $d=d_E$, between two and three, defined by zero two-body energies, where the Efimov effect can occur. We design for this dimension region a schematic, long-distance realistic, square-well based, three-body spherical model, which is used to derive analytic expressions for t…
A Fermi-Fermi mixture of 40K and 6Li does not exhibit the Efimov effect in a free space, but the Efimov effect can be induced by confining only 40K in one dimension. Here the Efimov's three-body parameter is controlled by the confinement length. We show that the three-body recombination rate in such a system in the dilute limit has a characteristic logarithmic-periodic dependence on the effective scattering length with the scaling factor 22.0 and can be expressed by formulas similar to those for identical bosons in three dimensions. The ultracold mixture of 40K and 6Li in the 1D-3D mixed dimen…
The quantum mechanical three-body problem is a source of continuing interest due to its complexity and not least due to the presence of fascinating solvable cases. The prime example is the Efimov effect where infinitely many bound states of identical bosons can arise at the threshold where the two-body problem has zero binding energy. An important aspect of the Efimov effect is the effect of spatial dimensionality; it has been observed in three dimensional systems, yet it is believed to be impossible in two dimensions. Using modern experimental techniques, it is possible to engineer trap geome…
We study small clusters of bosons, $A=2,3,4,5,6$, characterized by a resonant interaction. Firstly, we use a soft-gaussian interaction that reproduces the values of the dimer binding energy and the atom-atom scattering length obtained with LM2M2 potential, a widely used $^4$He-$^4$He interaction. We change the intensity of the potential to explore the clusters' spectra in different regions with large positive and large negative values of the two-body scattering length and we report the clusters' energies on Efimov plot, which makes the scale invariance explicit. Secondly, we repeat our calcula…
The Efimov effect can be induced by means of an external deformed one-body field that effectively reduces the allowed spatial dimensions to less than three. To understand this new mechanism, conceptually and practically, we employ a formulation using non-integer dimension, which is equivalent to the strength of an external oscillator field. The effect most clearly appears when the crucial two-body systems are unbound in three, but bound in two, dimensions. We discuss energy variation, conditions for occurrence, and number of Efimov states, as functions of the dimension. We use practical exampl…
Armed with a new solution to the four-body problem, we reanalyze the recent Innsbruck observation of an Efimov resonance in three-body collisions of cesium atoms, and show that it provides evidence of new, universal four-body physics as well. Our theoretical treatment of four bosonic atoms in the limit of strong two-body attraction suggests a ubiquitous result: namely, that resonantly-bound states of all four atoms should occur whenever the two-body scattering length is a specific fraction (0.43) of the value where a three-body Efimov resonance occurs. A hitherto unanalyzed feature in the 2006…
We apply a field-theoretic functional renormalization group technique to the few-body (vacuum) physics of non-relativistic atoms near a Feshbach resonance. Three systems are considered: one-component bosons with U(1) symmetry, two-component fermions with U(1)\times SU(2) symmetry and three-component fermions with U(1) \times SU(3) symmetry. We focus on the scale invariant unitarity limit for infinite scattering length. The exact solution for the two-body sector is consistent with the unitary fixed point behavior for all considered systems. Nevertheless, the numerical three-body solution in the…
Efimov physics refers to universal phenomena associated with a discrete scaling symmetry in the 3-body problem with a large scattering length. The first experimental evidence for Efimov physics was the recent observation of a resonant peak in the 3-body recombination rate for 133Cs atoms with large negative scattering length. There can also be resonant peaks in the atom-dimer relaxation rate for large positive scattering length. We calculate the atom-dimer relaxation rate as a function of temperature and show how measurements of the relaxation rate can be used to determine accurately the param…
A recent rejuvenation of experimental and theoretical interest in the physics of few- body systems has provided deep, fundamental insights into a broad range of problems. Few-body physics is a cross-cutting discipline not restricted to conventional subject ar- eas such as nuclear physics or atomic or molecular physics. To a large degree, the recent explosion of interest in this subject has been sparked by dramatic enhancements of experimental capabilities in ultracold atomic systems over the past decade, which now permit atoms and molecules to be explored deep in the quantum mechanical limit w…
Few-body systems with resonant short-range interactions display 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. Similar universal properties appear in 4-body and possibly higher-body systems as well. We set up an effective theory for few-body systems in a harmonic trap and study the modification of universal physics for 3- and 4-particle systems in external confinement. In partic…
An effective field theory developed for systems interacting through short-range interactions can be applied to systems of cold atoms with a large scattering length and to nucleons at low energies. It is therefore the ideal tool to analyze the universal properties associated with the Efimov effect in three- and four-body systems. In this "progress report", we will discuss recent results obtained within this framework and report on progress regarding the inclusion of higher order corrections associated with the finite range of the underlying interaction.
The challenging nuclear many-body problem is discussed along with classifications and qualitative descriptions of existing methods and models. We present detailed derivations of a new method where cluster correlations co-exist with an underlying mean-field described core-structure. The variation of an antisymmetrized product of cluster and core wave functions and a given nuclear interaction, provide sets of self-consistent equations of motion. After the applications on dripline nuclei we discuss perspectives with improvements and applications. In the conclusion we summarize while emphasizing t…
The hidden charm $X(3872)$ resonance is usually thought to be a $D^{*0} \bar{D}^0$ meson-antimeson molecule with quantum numbers $J^{PC} = 1^{++}$. If this is the case, there is the possibility that there might be three body bound states with two charmed mesons and a charmed antimeson. Here we argue that the theoretical existence of this type of three body molecules is expected from heavy quark spin symmetry. If applied to the two body sector, this symmetry implies that the interaction of the $D^{*0} \bar{D}^{*0}$ meson-antimeson pair in the $J^{PC} = 2^{++}$ channel is the same as in the $J^{…
We show that there exist two types of universal phenomena for three-boson systems with isospin degrees of freedom. In the isospin symmetric limit, there is only one universal three-boson bound state with the total isospin one, whose binding energy is proportional to that of the two-boson bound state. With large isospin symmetry breaking, the standard Efimov states of three identical bosons appear at low energies. Both phenomena can be realized by three pions with the pion mass appropriately tuned in lattice QCD simulations, or by spin-one bosons in cold atom experiments. Implication to the in-…
We present an energy scaling function to predict, in a specific range, the energy of bosonic trimers with large scattering lengths and finite range interactions, which is validated by quantum Monte Carlo calculations using microscopic Hamiltonians with two- and three-body potentials. The proposed scaling function depends on the scattering length, effective range, and a reference energy, which we chose as the trimer energy at unitarity. We obtained the scaling function as a limit cycle from the solution of the renormalized zero-range model with effective range corrections. We proposed a simple …
