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Nature 440, 289-290 (16 March 2006) | doi:10.1038/440289b; Published online 15 March 2006

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Quantum physics: A ménage à trois laid bare

Brett D. Esry1 & Chris H. Greene2

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Quantum bodies that can't settle down together in pairs get on fine in a cosy threesome. This startling claim about the private life of particles has just seen its first experimental confirmation.

In 1970, Vitaly Efimov, possessor of a freshly minted Russian PhD in theoretical nuclear physics, predicted a bizarre quantum-mechanical effect1: a system consisting of three particles, none of whose two-particle subsystems is stable, can, under certain circumstances, produce an infinite number of bound energy levels. That prediction has been a source of concern for theorists ever since.

  1. Brett D. Esry is in the Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
    Email: esry@phys.ksu.edu
  2. Chris H. Greene is in the Department of Physics and JILA, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
    Email: chris.greene@colorado.edu