Mechanisms of like-charge attraction in three-body systems

The physics of like-charge attraction in three-body systems has been investigated via a polarizable-ion model. It was found that like-charge attraction is possible for two configurations of a collinear binary system with regular interparticle spacings. For the mirror-symmetric configuration ABA, the dominant mechanism of like-charge attraction between the type-B particle and each type-A particle is the polarization of each type-A particle by the type-B particle. For the mirror-asymmetric configuration AAB, the dominant mechanism of like-charge attraction between the type-B particle and the pair of type-A particles is either the polarization of the pair of type-A particles by the type-B particle, or vice versa. For either configuration, the occurrence of like-charge attraction is conditional upon the presence of dissimilarities in net charge or polarizable volume between the two types of particles, as in the case of a two-particle system. The findings point to a new direction for manipulating interactions of polarizable particles at the micro- or nano-scale.