Positivity of the effective range for finite range attractive potentials with a repulsive core

In the phenomenological study of exotic hadrons, the sign of the effective range, $r_0$, is invoked as a criterion to distinguish between compact multiquark configurations (associated with $r_0<0$) and loosely bound hadronic molecules ($r_0>0$). Motivated by this, we investigate the fundamental constraints on the sign of the effective range for single-channel local interactions. We rigorously prove that for finite-range potentials, characterized by an inner repulsive core and an outer attractive tail, the effective range remains strictly positive provided that the scattering length is greater than the range of the potential ($a>R$).