Renormalization and Universality of Van der Waals forces

TL;DR

This paper explores how renormalization techniques combined with boundary conditions reveal universal scaling behaviors of Van der Waals forces between atoms, emphasizing the dominance of leading power laws in scattering and bound states.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent approach using renormalization and boundary conditions to analyze the universality and scaling of Van der Waals interactions.

Findings

Leading power law dominates scattering and bound states

Renormalization reveals universal features of Van der Waals forces

Effective Field Theory framework clarifies the role of unitarity and causality

Abstract

Renormalization ideas can profitably be exploited in conjunction with the superposition principle of boundary conditions in the description of model independent and universal scaling features of the singular and long range Van der Waals force between neutral atoms. The dominance of the leading power law is highlighted both in the scattering as well as in the bound state problem. The role of off-shell two-body unitarity and causality within the Effective Field Theory framework on the light of universality and scaling at low energies is analyzed.