Enhanced Dimer Relaxation in an Atomic/Molecular BEC

TL;DR

This paper derives a universal formula for the relaxation rate of shallow dimers into deeply-bound molecules in atomic/molecular BECs, highlighting the role of scattering length and Efimov states.

Contribution

It introduces a universal expression for the relaxation rate constant , linking it to scattering length and Efimov state parameters, revealing resonant enhancements.

Findings

 scales with  a/m near resonance

 exhibits periodic ln(a) dependence with resonant peaks

The formula connects relaxation rates to Efimov physics

Abstract

We derive a universal formula for the rate constant \beta for relaxation of a shallow dimer into deeply-bound diatomic molecules in the case of atoms with a large scattering length a. We show that \beta is determined by a and by two 3-body parameters that also determine the binding energies and widths of Efimov states. The rate constant \beta scales like \hbar a/m near the resonance, but the coefficient is a periodic function of ln(a) that may have resonant enhancement at values of a that differ by multiples of 22.7.