Nuclear-spin-independent short-range three-body physics in ultracold atoms

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that three-body recombination loss features in ultracold 7Li atoms are nuclear-spin independent, extending the universality of Efimov physics to the absolute ground state.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence that short-range three-body physics is nuclear-spin independent in ultracold atoms, confirming universality across different nuclear-spin states.

Findings

Recombination minima and Efimov resonances are identical for different nuclear-spin states.

Universality in three-body recombination loss extends to the absolute ground state.

Short-range physics does not depend on nuclear-spin in ultracold 7Li atoms.

Abstract

We investigate three-body recombination loss across a Feshbach resonance in a gas of ultracold 7Li atoms prepared in the absolute ground state and perform a comparison with previously reported results of a different nuclear-spin state [N. Gross et.al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 163202, (2009)]. We extend the previously reported universality in three-body recombination loss across a Feshbach resonance to the absolute ground state. We show that the positions and widths of recombination minima and Efimov resonances are identical for both states which indicates that the short-range physics is nuclear-spin independent.