Asymptotic separability of three-body continuum wave functions for Coulomb systems

Abstract

We consider a general three-body Coulomb system above the threshold for total break-up. For large particle separations the Schrodinger equation for this system is shown to be separable in terms of new suitably defined 6-dimensional parabolic coordinates. Although these coordinates are not orthogonal, mixed second derivative terms in the expression for the kinetic energy do not contribute at large particle separations to the Coulomb modification of free particle states. Rejection of mixed second derivatives at all particle configurations yields a three-body continuum wave function that satisfies exact asymptotic boundary conditions for Coulomb systems and treats all two-body interactions fully symmetric. This analysis splits the wave equation into an ‘unperturbed’ part plus a perturbation where the unperturbed part takes into account all long-range correlations.