The three-body problem in dimension one: From short-range to contact interactions

Abstract

We consider a Hamiltonian describing three quantum particles in dimension one interacting through two-body short-range potentials. We prove that, as a suitable scale parameter in the potential terms goes to zero, such a Hamiltonian converges to one with zero-range (also called delta or point) interactions. The convergence is understood in the norm resolvent sense. The two-body rescaled potentials are of the form vσε(xσ)=ε−1vσ(ε−1xσ), where σ = 23, 12, 31 is an index that runs over all the possible pairings of the three particles, xσ is the relative coordinate between two particles, and ε is the scale parameter. The limiting Hamiltonian is the one formally obtained by replacing the potentials vσ with ασδσ, where δσ is the Dirac delta-distribution centered on the coincidence hyperplane xσ = 0 and ασ=∫Rvσdxσ. To prove the convergence of the resolvents, we make use of Faddeev’s equations.