Modes of internal motion in three-body systems

The authors propose an approach to investigate the possible internal motions of three-body quantum-mechanical systems held together by pairwise potentials. The method utilizes the 'shape-density' functions which are defined and then extracted from the eigenwave functions of the system. Through these densities the dominant geometric configurations and modes of internal motion of the 0+, 2+ and 4+ states of a model three-boson system with and without a repulsive core in the interaction are determined. (Auth.)