The Efimov effect (in a broad sense) refers to the onset of a geometric sequence of many-body bound states as a consequence of the breakdown of continuous scale invariance to discrete scale invariance. While originally discovered in three-body problems in three dimensions, the Efimov effect has now been known to appear in a wide spectrum of many-body problems in various dimensions. Here we introduce a simple, exactly solvable toy model of two identical bosons in one dimension that exhibits the Efimov effect. We consider the situation where the bosons reside on a semi-infinite line and interact with each other through a pairwise $δ$-function potential with a particular position-dependent coupling strength that makes the system scale invariant. We show that, for sufficiently attractive interaction, the bosons are bound together and a new energy scale emerges. This energy scale breaks continuous scale invariance to discrete scale invariance and leads to the onset of a geometric sequence of two-body bound states. We also study the two-body scattering off the boundary and derive the exact reflection amplitude that exhibits a log-periodicity. This article is intended for students and non-specialists interested in discrete scale invariance.
We study the semisuper-Efimov effect, which is found for four identical bosons with a resonant three-body interaction in 2D, in various systems. Based on solutions of bound-state and renormalization-group equations, we first demonstrate an emergence of the semisuper-Efimov effect in mass-imbalanced bosons in 2D. Compared with the Efimov and the super-Efimov effects, the mass ratio-dependent scaling parameter is unexpectedly found to take on a finite value even for extremely mass-imbalanced situations, where the mass ratio is 0 or $\infty$. By a renormalization-group analysis, we also show that…
Efimov effect refers to quantum states with discrete scaling symmetry and a universal scaling factor, and has attracted considerable interests from nuclear to atomic physics communities. In a Dirac semi-metal, when an electron interacts with a static impurity though a Coulomb interaction, the same scaling of the kinetic and interaction energies also gives rise to such a Efimov effect. However, even when the Fermi energy exactly lies at the Dirac point, the vacuum polarization of electron-hole pair fluctuation can still screen the Coulomb interaction, which leads to derivation from this scaling…
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…
In this article, we revisit the heteronuclear Efimov effect in a Bose-Fermi mixture with large mass difference in the Born-Oppenheimer picture. As a specific example, we consider the combination of bosonic $^{133}\mathrm{Cs}$ and fermionic $^6\mathrm{Li}$. In a system consisting of two heavy bosons and one light fermion, the fermion-mediated potential between the two heavy bosons gives rise to an infinite series of three-body bound states. The intraspecies scattering length determines the three-body parameter and the scaling factor between consecutive Efimov states. In a second scenario, we re…
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_…
In two-dimensional Dirac semimetals, massless Dirac fermions can form a series of Efimov-like quasibound states in an attractive Coulomb potential. In an applied magnetic field, these quasibound states can become bound states around the Dirac point, due to the energy gap between two successive Landau levels. Through the calculation of the energy spectrum directly, we show that there exists a crossover from the Landau level to the bound state as the magnetic field increases. Because of the decreasing magnetic length, the deep quasibound states are pushed up to the Dirac point relatively and tra…
A few-body properties of spinless Bose particles interacting via the contact three-body potential in geometries with fractional dimensions $1<d<2$ are considered. In the four-body sector at three-body resonance we predict the existence of infinite tower of the Efimov bound states, and a similar behavior is found in the five-body problem. It is shown that a ratio of the high-energy levels in these two sectors is a universal constant. The consequences of emergence of the Efimov physics on the many-body behavior are briefly discussed.
Efimov physics is a universal phenomenon arising in quantum three-body systems. For systems with resonant two-body interactions, Efimov predicted an infinite series of three-body bound states with geometric scaling symmetry. These Efimov states were first observed in cold Cs atoms and have since been reported in a variety of atomic systems. While theories predict non-universal behavior for narrow Feshbach resonances, experiments on Efimov resonances are so far consistent with predictions based on universal theories. Here we directly compare the Efimov spectra in a $^6$Li-$^{133}$Cs mixture nea…
Engineering lattice models with tailored inter-site tunnelings and onsite energies could synthesize essentially arbitrary Riemannian surfaces with highly tunable local curvatures. Here, we point out that discrete synthetic Poincaré half-planes and Poincaré disks, which are created by lattices in flat planes, support infinitely degenerate eigenstates for any nonzero eigenenergies. Such Efimov-like states exhibit a discrete scaling symmetry and imply an unprecedented apparatus for studying quantum anomaly using hyperbolic surfaces. Furthermore, all eigenstates are exponentially localized in the …
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…
Quantum theory dictates that upon weakening the two-body interaction in a three-body system, an infinite number of three-body bound states of a huge spatial extent emerge just before these three-body states become unbound. Three helium atoms have been predicted to form a molecular system that manifests this peculiarity under natural conditions without artificial tuning of the attraction between particles by an external field. Here we report experimental observation of this long predicted but experimentally elusive Efimov state of $^{4}$He$_{3}$ by means of Coulomb explosion imaging. We show sp…
Motivated by recent experimental investigations of Cs-Cs-Li Efimov resonances, this work theoretically investigates the few-body properties of $N-1$ non-interacting identical heavy bosons, which interact with a light impurity through a large $s$-wave scattering length. For Cs-Cs-Cs-Li, we predict the existence of universal four-body states with energies $E_4^{(n,1)}$ and $E_4^{(n,2)}$, which are universally linked to the energy $E_3^{(n)}$ of the $n$th Efimov trimer. For infinitely large $^{133}$Cs-$^6$Li and vanishing $^{133}$Cs-$^{133}$Cs scattering lengths, we find $(E_4^{(1,1)}/E_3^{(1)})^…
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 mass-imbalanced three-body recombination process that forms a shallow dimer is shown to possess a rich Efimov-Stückelberg landscape, with corresponding spectra that differ fundamentally from the homonuclear case. A semi-analytical treatment of the three-body recombination predicts an unusual spectra with intertwined resonance peaks and minima, and yields in-depth insight into the behavior of the corresponding Efimov spectra. In particular, the patterns of the Efimov-Stückelberg landscape are shown to depend inherently on the degree of diabaticity of the three-body collisions, which strongl…
In view of recent experiments in ultracold atomic systems, the photoassociation of Efimov trimers, composed of three identical bosons, is studied utilizing the multipole expansion. We study both the normal hierarchy case, where one-body current is dominant, and the strong hierarchy case, relevant for photoassociation in ultracold atoms, where two-body current is dominant. For identical particles in the normal hierarchy case, the leading contribution comes from the r^2 s-mode operator and from the quadrupole d-mode operator. The s-mode reaction is found to be dominant at low temperature, while …
The Efimov effect was first predicted for three particles interacting at an $s$-wave resonance in three dimensions. Subsequent study showed that the same effect can be realized by considering two-body and three-body interactions in mixed dimensions. In this work, we consider the three-body problem of two bosonic $A$ atoms interacting with another single $B$ atom in mixed dimensions: The $A$ atoms are confined in a space of dimension $d_A$ and the $B$ atom in a space of dimension $d_B$, and there is an interspecies $s$-wave interaction in a $d_{\rm int}$-co-dimensional space accessible to both …
We consider a three-particle quantum system in dimension three composed of two identical fermions of mass one and a different particle of mass $m$. The particles interact via two-body short range potentials. We assume that the Hamiltonians of all the two-particle subsystems do not have bound states with negative energy and, moreover, that the Hamiltonians of the two subsystems made of a fermion and the different particle have a zero-energy resonance. Under these conditions and for $m<m^* = (13.607)^{-1}$, we give a rigorous proof of the occurrence of the Efimov effect, i.e., the existence of i…
The low-energy spectrum of $N$-boson clusters with pairwise zero-range interactions is believed to be governed by a three-body parameter. We study the ground state of $N$-boson clusters with infinite two-body $s$-wave scattering length by performing {\em{ab initio}} Monte Carlo simulations. To prevent Thomas collapse, different finite-range three-body regulators are used. The energy and structural properties for the three-body Hamiltonian with two-body zero-range interactions and three-body regulator are in much better agreement with the "ideal zero-range Efimov theory" results than those for …
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…
Wave functions, phase shifts and corresponding elastic cross sections are investigated for two short-range interacting particles in a deformed external oscillator field. For this we use the equivalent $d$-method employing a non-integer dimension $d$. Using a square-well potential, we derive analytic expressions for scattering lengths and phase shifts. In particular, we consider the dimension, $d_E$, for infinite scattering length, where the Efimov effect occurs by addition of a third particle. We give explicitly the equivalent continuum wave functions in $d$ and ordinary three dimensional (3D)…
Universal Bound States in Long-range Spin Chains with an Impurity
Fudan University（复旦大学）；State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University（复旦大学表面物理国家重点实验室）；Institute for Nanoelectronic devices and Quantum computing, Fudan University（复旦大学纳米电子器件与量子计算研究所）；Shanghai Key Laboratory of Metasurfaces for Light Manipulation（上海市光操控超材料重点实验室）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）
When the binding energy of a two-body system goes to zero the two-body system shows a continuous scaling invariance governed by the large value of the scattering length. In the case of three identical bosons, the three-body system in the same limit shows the Efimov effect and the scale invariance is broken to a discrete scale invariance. As the number of bosons increases correlations appear between the binding energy of the few- and many-body systems. We discuss some of them as the relation between the saturation properties of the infinite system and the low-energy properties of the few-boson …
