N-body Efimov states of trapped bosons

TL;DR

This paper investigates the existence of meta-stable N-body Efimov states in trapped Bose systems with large scattering lengths, using advanced computational methods to analyze their spectra and potential impact on condensate recombination.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of N-body Efimov states in trapped bosons and provides detailed spectral calculations for systems with 3 to 7 particles.

Findings

Efimov states exhibit exponential energy and radius dependence.

Series of Efimov states identified for N=3 to 7 bosons.

Estimated contribution of these states to BEC recombination rates.

Abstract

We demonstrate the possibility of existence of meta-stable N-body Efimov states in trapped Bose systems with large scattering length. We calculate spectra of trapped systems of N=3,4,5,6, and 7 bosons using a stochastic variational method with a restricted correlated Gaussian basis. For each system the calculations reveal a series of Efimov states where the energy and the r.m.s. radius exhibit the characteristic exponential dependence upon the state number. We also estimate the contribution of these states to the recombination rate of Bose-Einstein condensates.