Three-body scattering hypervolumes of particles with short-range interactions

Abstract

The low-energy scattering of three bosons or distinguishable particles with short-range interactions is characterized by a fundamental parameter, the three-body scattering hypervolume. Its imaginary part is directly related to the three-body recombination rate in a quantum gas consisting of such particles. We derive an analytical formula of it for weak interactions, and perform its first numerical calculations for bosons with a variable nonzero-range potential. For attractive interactions, we identify several three-body resonances at which the three-body scattering hypervolume becomes divergent or anomalously large.