Analytic continuation of the relativistic three-particle scattering amplitudes

Abstract

We investigate the relativistic scattering of three identical scalar bosons interacting via pair-wise interactions. Extending techniques from the non-relativistic three-body scattering theory, we provide a detailed and general prescription for solving and analytically continuing integral equations describing the three-body reactions. We use these techniques to study a system with zero angular momenta described by a single scattering length leading to a bound state in a two-body sub-channel. We obtain bound-state--particle and three-particle amplitudes in the previously unexplored kinematical regime; in particular, for real energies below elastic thresholds and complex energies in the physical and unphysical Riemann sheets. We extract positions of three-particle bound-states that agree with previous finite-volume studies, providing further evidence for the consistency of the relativistic finite-volume three-body quantization conditions. We also determine previously unobserved virtual bound states in this theory. Finally, we find numerical evidence of the breakdown of the two-body finite-volume formalism in the vicinity of the left-hand cuts and argue for the generalization of the existing formalism.