Pointwise bounds on eigenfunctions and wave packets in N-body quantum systems. VI. Asymptotics in the two-cluster region

We study the asymptotic behavior of the ground-state wave function of multiparticle quantum systems without statistics in that region of configuration space where the particles break up into two well-defined clusters very far apart. One example of our results is the following: consider a system of N particles moving in three dimensions with rotationally invariant two-body potentials which are bounded and have compact support. Let D = C₁,C₂ be a partition into two clusters so that H(C₁) and H(C₂) have discrete ground states η₁ and η₂ of energy ϵ₁ and ϵ₂. Suppose that Σ = ϵ₁ + ϵ₂ = inf σ_ess(H) and that H has a discrete ground state ϑ of energy E. Let ζ₁and ζ₂ denote internal coordinates for the clusters C₁ and c₂ and let R be the difference of the centers of mass of the clusters. Let μ = M₁M₂/M₁ + M₂with M_i the mass of clusters C_i and define k by k²/2m = Σ-E. Then as R → a8 with ¦ζ_i¦ bounded, we prove that ϑ(ζ₁,ζ₂, R) = cη(ζ₁)η(ζ₂)e^−kRR⁻¹(1+O(e^−γR)) for some γ, c 〉 0. We prove weaker conclusions under weaker hypotheses, including results in the atomic case.