Efimov states in atom-molecular collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates Efimov states in atom-molecular collisions involving heavy bosonic atoms, revealing resonances in scattering cross sections that can be experimentally observed via thermalization rates.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of Efimov states in atom-molecular collisions within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, highlighting their experimental signatures.

Findings

Resonances in scattering cross sections due to Efimov states

Elastic collision resonances observable through thermalization rates

Analysis applicable to experiments with heavy bosonic atoms

Abstract

We analyse scattering of a heavy atom off a weakly bound molecule comprising an identical heavy and a light atom in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We focus on the situation where the heavy atoms are bosons, which was realized in several experiments. The elastic and inelastic cross sections for the atom-molecular scattering exhibit a series of resonances corresponding to three-body Efimov states. Resonances in elastic collisions are accessible experimentally through thermalization rates, and thus constitute an alternative way of observing Efimov states.