Three-body Forces in Oscillator Bases Expansion

Abstract

The oscillator bases expansion stands as an efficient approximation method for the time-independent Schr\"odinger equation. The method, originally formulated with one non-linear variational parameter, can be extended to incorporate two such parameters. It handles both non- and semi-relativistic kinematics with generic two-body interactions. In the current work, focusing on systems of three identical bodies, the method is generalised to include the management of a given class of three-body forces. The computational cost of this generalisation proves to not exceed the one for two-body interactions. The accuracy of the generalisation is assessed by comparing with results from Lagrange mesh method and hyperspherical harmonic expansions. Extensions for systems of $N$ identical bodies and for systems of two identical particles and one distinct are also discussed.