Van der Waals forces and Photon-less Effective Field Theories

TL;DR

This paper explores how Van der Waals forces at ultra-cold temperatures influence effective field theories that exclude photons, revealing universal scaling laws and the importance of certain operators in three-body interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the constraints imposed by Van der Waals forces on photon-less effective field theories and analyzes the role of redundant operators in three-body force definitions.

Findings

Universal low energy scaling features are dictated by two-photon exchange Van der Waals forces.

Restrictions on effective field theories without explicit photons are established.

The significance of redundant operators in three-body force modeling is clarified.

Abstract

In the ultra-cold regime Van der Waals forces between neutral atoms can be represented by short range effective interactions. We show that universal low energy scaling features of the underlying vdW long range force stemming from two photon exchange impose restrictions on an Effective Field Theory without explicit photons. The role of naively redundant operators, relevant to the definition of three body forces, is also analyzed.