Three-body problem in heteronuclear mixtures with resonant interspecies interaction

K. Helfrich 1, H. -W. Hammer 2, D. S. Petrov 3, 4

Physical Review A: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics 81 (2010) 042715

We use the zero-range approximation to study a system of two identical bosons interacting resonantly with a third particle. The method is derived from effective field theory. It reduces the three-body problem to an integral equation which we then solve numerically. We also develop an alternative approach which gives analytic solutions of the integral equation in coordinate representation in the limit of vanishing total energy. The atom-dimer scattering length, the rates of atom-dimer relaxation and three-body recombination to shallow and to deep molecular states are calculated either analytically or numerically with a well controlled accuracy for various energies as functions of the mass ratio, scattering length, and three-body parameter. We discuss in detail the relative positions of the recombination loss peaks, which in the universal limit depend only on the mass ratio. Our results have implications for ongoing and future experiments on Bose-Bose and Bose-Fermi atomic mixtures.

  • 1. Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen und Kernphysik,
    Universität Bonn
  • 2. Helmoltz Institut für Strahlen und Kernphysik,
    Universität Bonn
  • 3. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques (LPTMS),
    CNRS : UMR8626 – Université Paris XI – Paris Sud
  • 4. National Research Centre « Kurchatov Institute » (NRC KI),
    University of Moscow
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