Quantcast
  • Register
PhysicsOverflow is a next-generation academic platform for physicists and astronomers, including a community peer review system and a postgraduate-level discussion forum analogous to MathOverflow.

Welcome to PhysicsOverflow! PhysicsOverflow is an open platform for community peer review and graduate-level Physics discussion.

Please help promote PhysicsOverflow ads elsewhere if you like it.

News

PO is now at the Physics Department of Bielefeld University!

New printer friendly PO pages!

Migration to Bielefeld University was successful!

Please vote for this year's PhysicsOverflow ads!

Please do help out in categorising submissions. Submit a paper to PhysicsOverflow!

... see more

Tools for paper authors

Submit paper
Claim Paper Authorship

Tools for SE users

Search User
Reclaim SE Account
Request Account Merger
Nativise imported posts
Claim post (deleted users)
Import SE post

Users whose questions have been imported from Physics Stack Exchange, Theoretical Physics Stack Exchange, or any other Stack Exchange site are kindly requested to reclaim their account and not to register as a new user.

Public \(\beta\) tools

Report a bug with a feature
Request a new functionality
404 page design
Send feedback

Attributions

(propose a free ad)

Site Statistics

205 submissions , 163 unreviewed
5,082 questions , 2,232 unanswered
5,353 answers , 22,789 comments
1,470 users with positive rep
820 active unimported users
More ...

  Bound states and scattering length

+ 1 like - 0 dislike
1301 views
  1. What is the relationship between bound states and scattering length?

  2. What is the relationship between scattering states and scattering length?

  3. When we say, potential is 'like' repulsive for positive scattering length and viceversa, are we talking with respect to scattering states or bound states? (though the answer should be scattering states, but the literature everywhere assumes you to know it on your own.)

All these concepts are found in the theory of BCS-BEC crossover.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2015-06-15 19:36 (UTC), posted by SE-user cleanplay
asked Jul 12, 2013 in Theoretical Physics by cleanplay (80 points) [ no revision ]

1 Answer

+ 4 like - 0 dislike

Consider non-relativistic quantum mechanics with a finite range potential. The spectrum of the Hamiltonian has a discrete sector (possibly empty), corresponding to bound states, and a continuous sector, corresponding to scattering states. The asymptotic wave function of the scattering states can be characterized by phase shifts. The small momentum limit of the phase shifts determines the scattering lengths (and scattering volumes etc.).

By the magic of analyticity there are some relations between binding energies and phase shifts. One example is Levinson's theorem (http://ajp.aapt.org/resource/1/ajpias/v32/i10/p787_s1). Another important example has to do with shallow bound states. If there is a shallow bound state with energy $E=-E_B$, then the s-wave scattering length a satisfies $E_B=1/(ma^2)$. This is explained in most text books on QM (I was perusing Weinberg's book earlier this year, and he has a whole section devoted to shallow bound states.)

With regard to your questions:

1) For shallow bound states, $E_B=1/(ma^2)$. In general, no direct relation except for ``global'' statements like Levinson's theorem.

2) The scatttering length is defined through the low-momentum limit of the scattering phase shift; phase shifts determine asymptotic behavior of scattering states.

3) We call negative $a$ attractive and positive $a$ repulsive because the asymptotic wave functions are pulled in or pushed out, respectively. Also, the simplest mechanism for small negative/positive $a$ is a weak repulsive/attractive potential. If there is a shallow bound state then $a$ is positive. This means that the scattering wave is pushed out (``repulsive'') even though the underlying potential is obviously attractive. This means that at low energy one cannot distinguish scattering from weakly repulsive potentials and strongly attractive ones with a shallow bound state.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2015-06-15 19:36 (UTC), posted by SE-user Thomas
answered Jul 13, 2013 by tmschaefer (720 points) [ no revision ]
thanks, nice answer

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2015-06-15 19:36 (UTC), posted by SE-user cleanplay

Your answer

Please use answers only to (at least partly) answer questions. To comment, discuss, or ask for clarification, leave a comment instead.
To mask links under text, please type your text, highlight it, and click the "link" button. You can then enter your link URL.
Please consult the FAQ for as to how to format your post.
This is the answer box; if you want to write a comment instead, please use the 'add comment' button.
Live preview (may slow down editor)   Preview
Your name to display (optional):
Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.
Anti-spam verification:
If you are a human please identify the position of the character covered by the symbol $\varnothing$ in the following word:
p$\hbar$ysic$\varnothing$Overflow
Then drag the red bullet below over the corresponding character of our banner. When you drop it there, the bullet changes to green (on slow internet connections after a few seconds).
Please complete the anti-spam verification




user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required

Your rights
...