Cold atomic and molecular collisions: approaching the universal loss regime

Frye, M. D.; Julienne, P. S.; Hutson, J. M.

Abstract

We investigate the behaviour of single-channel theoretical models of cold and ultracold collisions that take account of inelastic and reactive processes using a single parameter to represent short- range loss. We present plots of the resulting energy-dependence of elastic and inelastic or reactive cross sections over the full parameter space of loss parameters and short-range phase shifts. We then test the single-channel model by comparing it with the results of coupled-channel calculations of rotationally inelastic collisions between LiH molecules and Li atoms. We nd that the range of cross sections predicted by the single-channel model becomes increasingly accurate as the initial LiH rotational quantum number increases, with a corresponding increase in the number of open loss channels. The results suggest that coupled-channel calculations at very low energy (in the s-wave regime) could in some cases be used to estimate a loss parameter and then to predict the range of possible loss rates at higher energy, without the need for explicit coupled-channel calculations for higher partial waves.

Citation

Frye, M. D., Julienne, P. S., & Hutson, J. M. (2015). Cold atomic and molecular collisions: approaching the universal loss regime. New Journal of Physics, 17, Article 045019. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/4/045019

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Apr 27, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 5, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 13, 2015
• Journal: New Journal of Physics
• Electronic ISSN: 1367-2630
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 17
• Article Number: 045019
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/4/045019
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1413869
• Related Public URLs: http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.5114