English

Mixed partial-wave scattering with spin-orbit coupling and validity of pseudo-potentials

Quantum Gases 2012-02-16 v2

Abstract

We present exact solutions of two-body problem for spin-1/2 fermions with isotropic spin-orbit(SO) coupling and interacting with an arbitrary short-range potential. We find that in each partial-wave scattering channel, the parametrization of two-body wavefunction at short inter-particle distance depends on the scattering amplitudes of all channels. This reveals the mixed partial-wave scattering induced by SO couplings. By comparing with results from a square-well potential, we investigate the validity of original pseudo-potential models in the presence of SO coupling. We find the s-wave pseudo-potential provides a good approximation for low-energy solutions near s-wave resonances, given the length scale of SO coupling much longer than the potential range. However, near p-wave resonance the p-wave pseudo-potential gives low-energy solutions that are qualitatively different from exact ones, based on which we conclude that the p-wave model can not be applied to the fermion system if the SO coupling strength is larger or comparable to the Fermi momentum.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1112.1122,
  title  = {Mixed partial-wave scattering with spin-orbit coupling and validity of pseudo-potentials},
  author = {Xiaoling Cui},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1112.1122},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

10 pages, 8 figures. Published version with figures improved

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:46:48.457Z