Molecular formations in ultracold mixtures of interacting and noninteracting atomic gases

TL;DR

This paper analyzes atom-molecule equilibrium in ultracold atomic gas mixtures, presenting phase diagrams, temperature effects, and quantum-statistical deviations, with mean-field interaction effects leading to new coexisting phases.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive framework for understanding atom-molecule equilibrium in ultracold gases, including phase diagrams, temperature dependence, and interaction effects, extending previous models.

Findings

Zero-temperature phase diagrams show molecular, mixed, and dissociated phases.

Finite-temperature calculations reveal phase structures and Bose-Einstein condensation transition temperatures.

Interaction effects induce linear density-dependent shifts in molecular binding energies and new coexisting phases.

Abstract

Atom-molecule equilibrium for molecular formation processes is discussed for boson-fermion, fermion-fermion, and boson-boson mixtures of ultracold atomic gases in the framework of quasichemical equilibrium theory. After presentation of the general formulation, zero-temperature phase diagrams of the atom-molecule equilibrium states are calculated analytically; molecular, mixed, and dissociated phases are shown to appear for the change of the binding energy of the molecules. The temperature dependences of the atom or molecule densities are calculated numerically, and finite-temperature phase structures are obtained of the atom-molecule equilibrium in the mixtures. The transition temperatures of the atom or molecule Bose-Einstein condensations are also evaluated from these results. Quantum-statistical deviations of the law of mass action in atom-molecule equilibrium, which should be satisfied in mixtures of classical Maxwell-Boltzmann gases, are calculated, and the difference in the different types of quantum-statistical effects is clarified. Mean-field calculations with interparticle interactions (atom-atom, atom-molecule, and molecule-molecule) are formulated, where interaction effects are found to give the linear density-dependent term in the effective molecular binding energies. This method is applied to calculations of zero-temperature phase diagrams, where new phases with coexisting local-equilibrium states are shown to appear in the case of strongly repulsive interactions.