Universal physics of bound states of a few charged particles

We study few-body bound states of charged particles subject to attractive zero-range/short-range plus repulsive Coulomb interparticle forces. The characteristic length scales of the system at zero energy are set by the Coulomb length scale D and the Coulomb-modified effective range reff. We study sh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysics letters. B Vol. 798; p. 135016
Main Authors Schmickler, C.H., Hammer, H.-W., Volosniev, A.G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 10.11.2019
Elsevier
Subjects
Bound states
Coulomb interaction
Universality
Universality
Bound states
Coulomb interaction
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Summary:We study few-body bound states of charged particles subject to attractive zero-range/short-range plus repulsive Coulomb interparticle forces. The characteristic length scales of the system at zero energy are set by the Coulomb length scale D and the Coulomb-modified effective range reff. We study shallow bound states of charged particles with D≫reff and show that these systems obey universal scaling laws different from neutral particles. An accurate description of these states requires both the Coulomb-modified scattering length and the effective range unless the Coulomb interaction is very weak (D→∞). Our findings are relevant for bound states whose spatial extent is significantly larger than the range of the attractive potential. These states enjoy universality – their character is independent of the shape of the short-range potential.
ISSN:0370-2693
1873-2445
DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135016