Inelastic scattering of atoms in a double well

TL;DR

This paper investigates how inelastic scattering affects atomic interactions and tunneling in a double well system, revealing a sign change in effective interactions and energy level crossings.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of inelastic scattering effects on atom dynamics in a double well, highlighting the polaron effect and energy level crossings.

Findings

Inelastic scattering excites heavy atoms and alters tunneling rates.

The effective interaction between light atoms becomes attractive under strong scattering.

Energy levels cross from singly to doubly occupied sites with increasing inelastic scattering.

Abstract

We study a mixture of two light spin-1/2 fermionic atoms and two heavy atoms %in a Mott state in a double well potential. Inelastic scattering processes between both atomic species excite the heavy atoms and renormalize the tunneling rate and the interaction of the light atoms (polaron effect). The effective interaction of the light atoms changes its sign and becomes attractive for strong inelastic scattering. This is accompanied by a crossing of the energy levels from singly occupied sites at weak inelastic scattering to a doubly occupied and an empty site for stronger inelastic scattering. We are able to identify the polaron effect and the level crossing in the quantum dynamics.