Suppression of molecular decay in ultracold gases without Fermi statistics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that molecular decay in ultracold gases can be suppressed regardless of whether the atoms are fermions or bosons, and highlights the potential for efficient molecular formation through three-body recombination.

Contribution

It reveals that decay suppression is possible without Fermi statistics and shows how three-body recombination can produce stable molecules at ultracold temperatures.

Findings

Decay rates can be suppressed without fermionic statistics.

Three-body recombination mainly forms stable weakly bound molecules.

High molecular densities can be achieved via recombination in three-component gases.

Abstract

We study inelastic processes for ultracold three-body systems in which only one interaction is resonant. We have found that the decay rates for weakly bound molecules due to collisions with other atoms can be suppressed not only without fermionic statistics but also when bosonic statistics applies. In addition, we show that at ultracold temperatures three-body recombination involving a single resonant pair of atoms leads mainly to formation of weakly bound molecules which, in turn, are stable against decay. These results indicate that recombination in three-component atomic gases can be used as an efficient mechanism for molecular formation, allowing the achievement of high molecular densities.