Effective field theories for van der Waals interactions

Understand

Van der Waals interactions between two neutral but polarizable systems at a separation $R$ much larger than the typical size of the systems are at the core of a broad sweep of contemporary problems in settings ranging from atomic, molecular and condensed matter physics to strong interactions and gravity.

• We reexamine the dispersive van der Waals interactions between two hydrogen atoms.
• The novelty of the analysis resides in the usage of nonrelativistic EFTs of QED.
• In this framework, the van der Waals potential acquires the meaning of a matching coefficient in an EFT suited to describe the low energy dynamics of an atom pair.