Universal low-energy behavior in three-body systems

Abstract: We consider a pairwise interacting quantum 3-body system in 3-dimensional space with finite masses and the interaction term

V_{12} + l a m b d a (V_{13} + V_{23})

, where all pair potentials are assumed to be nonpositive. The pair interaction of the particles

1, 2

is tuned to make them have a zero energy resonance and no negative energy bound states. The coupling constant

l a m b d a > 0

is allowed to take the values for which the particle pairs

1, 3

and

2, 3

have no bound states with negative energy. Let

l a m b d a_{c r}

denote the critical value of the coupling constant such that

E (l a m b d a) o - 0

for

l a m b d a o l a m b d a_{c r}

, where

E (l a m b d a)

is the ground state energy of the 3-body system. We prove the theorem, which states that near

l a m b d a_{c r}

one has

E (l a m b d a) = C (l a m b d a - l a m b d a_{c r}) [l n (l a m b d a - l a m b d a_{c r})]^{- 1} +

h.t., where

C

is a constant and h.t. stands for "higher terms". This behavior of the ground state energy is universal (up to the value of the constant

C

), meaning that it is independent of the form of pair interactions.

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