Three-Body Phase Shift in One-Dimensional 2 + 1 Scattering

For a model of three particles on a line, subject to attractive delta-function interactions, we consider the phase shift. We do this from the point of view of the calculation of the S-matrix in a hyperspherical adiabatic basis (an adiabatic S-matrix), and for energies ranging from the (negative) energy of the two-body bound state to a total energy of zero. We derive analytical expansions and present numerical work, for different approximations, and compare with the exact results that we obtain from the work of McGuire, whose model we have borrowed. We show that the simplest adiabatic approximation gives results that are qualitatively wrong, but that better approximations yield, for most of our range, excellent agreement with the exact result. Understanding the threshold behaviour, however, requires a zero-energy three-body bound state, or resonance, previously unsuspected for this model. The methods developed for the case of the simplest adiabatic approximation also yield threshold and low-energy results applicable to the two-body problem in two dimensions. Received December 23, 1996; revised May 13, 1997; accepted for publication June 19, 1997