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arXiv:1208.3912 · Physical Review A

Physical origin of the universal three-body parameter in atomic Efimov physics

Pascal Naidon, Shimpei Endo, Masahito Ueda

Published Aug 11, 2014• 85 citations
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Abstract

We address the microscopic origin of the universal three-body parameter that fixes the spectrum of three-atom systems in the Efimov regime. We identify it with the van der Waals two-body correlation, which causes the three-atom system to deform when the three atoms come within the distance of the van der Waals length, effectively preventing them from coming closer due to the kinetic-energy cost associated with three-body deformation. This deformation mechanism explains the universal ratio of the scattering length at the triatomic resonance to the van der Waals length observed in several experiments and confirmed by numerical calculations.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.90.022106

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We address the microscopic origin of the universal three-body parameter that fixes the spectrum of three-atom systems in the Efimov regime. We identify it with the van der Waals two-body correlation, which causes the three-atom system to deform when the three atoms come within the distance of the van der Waals length, effectively preventing them from coming closer due to the kinetic-energy cost associated with three-body deformation. This deformation mechanism explains the universal ratio of the scattering length at the triatomic resonance to the van der Waals length observed in several experiments and confirmed by numerical calculations.
We measure the critical scattering length for the appearance of the first three-body bound state, or Efimov three-body parameter, at seven different Feshbach resonances in ultracold ^{39}K atoms. We study both intermediate and narrow resonances, where the three-body spectrum is expected to be determined by the nonuniversal coupling of two scattering channels. Instead, our observed ratio of the three-body parameter with the van der Waals radius is approximately the same universal ratio as for broader resonances. This unexpected observation suggests the presence of a new regime for three-body scattering at narrow resonances.
In Efimov physics, a three-body parameter (3BP), previously regarded as nonuniversal, uniquely defines bound and scattering properties of three particles. A universal 3BP, however, has been recently shown in experiments and theory in ultracold homonuclear gases. Our present study further predicts a universal 3BP for heteronuclear atomic systems near broad Feshbach resonances and provides physical interpretations for its origin. We show that for a system composed of two light and one heavy atom, the physical origin of the universal 3BP is similar to the homonuclear case, while for systems composed by one light and two heavy atoms, the universality of the 3BP is now mostly controlled by the heavy-heavy interatomic properties. This new universality is explained by the universal properties of the van der Waals interactions in a simple Born-Oppenheimer picture. Finally, we show the numerically determined 3BPs for some combinations of alkali atoms used in ultracold experiments.
We study three-body systems in a mass-imbalanced, two-component, cold-atom mixture, and we investigate the three-body parameter of their Efimov states for both bosonic and fermionic systems, with a major focus on the Er-Er-Li Efimov states. For a system interacting solely via van der Waals interactions, the van der Waals universality of the three-body parameter is analytically derived using the quantum defect theory. With the addition of a perturbative dipole interaction between the heavy atoms, the three-body parameters of the bosonic and fermionic Efimov states are found to behave differently. When the dipole interaction is as strong as the van der Waals interaction, corresponding to realistic Er-Er-Li Efimov states, we show that the van der Waals universality persists once the effects of the nonperturbative dipole interaction are into the s -wave and p -wave scattering parameters between the heavy atoms. For a dipole interaction much stronger than the van der Waals interaction, we find that the universality of the Efimov states can be alternatively characterized by a quasi-one-dimensional scattering parameter due to a strong anisotropic deformation of the Efimov wave functions. Our work thus clarifies the interplay of isotropic and anisotropic forces in the universality of the Efimov states. Based on the renormalized van der Waals universality, the three-body parameter is estimated for specific isotopes of Er-Li cold-atom mixtures. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We provide an exact solution of the Efimov spectrum in ultracold gases within the standard two-channel model for Feshbach resonances. It is shown that the finite range in the Feshbach coupling makes the introduction of an adjustable three-body parameter obsolete. The solution explains the empirical relation between the scattering length a − where the first Efimov state appears at the atom threshold and the van der Waals length l vdw for open-channel dominated resonances. There is a continuous crossover to the closed-channel dominated limit, where the scale in the energy level diagram as a function of the inverse scattering length 1 / a is set by the intrinsic length r ⋆ associated with the Feshbach coupling. Our results provide a number of predictions for the deviations from universal scaling relations between energies and scattering lengths that can be tested in future experiments.
We calculate the spectrum of three-body Efimov bound states near a Feshbach resonance within a model which accounts both for the finite range of interactions and the presence of background scattering. The latter may be due to direct interactions in an open channel or a second overlapping Feshbach resonance. It is found that background scattering gives rise to substantial changes in the trimer spectrum as a function of the detuning away from a Feshbach resonance, in particular in the regime where the background channel supports Efimov states on its own. Compared to the situation with negligible background scattering, the regime where van der Waals universality applies is shifted to larger values of the resonance strength if the background scattering length is positive. For negative background scattering lengths, in turn, van der Waals universality extends to even small values of the resonance strength parameter, consistent with experimental results on Efimov states in 39K^{39}\mathrm{K}39K. Within a simple model, we show that short-range three-body forces do not affect van der Waals universality significantly. Repulsive three-body forces may, however, explain the observed variation between around $\ensuremath{-}8$ and $\ensuremath{-}10$ of the ratio between the scattering length where the first Efimov trimer appears and the van der Waals length.
The three-body parameter (3BP) ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}$ is crucial for understanding Efimov physics, and a universal 3BP has been shown in experiments and theory in ultracold homonuclear gases. The 3BP of heteronuclear systems has been predicted to possess much richer properties than its homonuclear counterparts due to the larger parameter space. In this work, we investigate the universal properties of ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}$ for heavy-heavy-light (HHL) systems with a negative intraspecies scattering length aHH{a}_{HH}aHH​. We find that ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}$ follows a universal behavior determined by the van der Waals (vdW) interaction and the mass ratio. A linear fit of ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}$ for large ∣aHH∣|{a}_{HH}|∣aHH​∣ leads to a simple formula, which gives the general dependence of ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}$ on the mass ratio and the vdW length rvdW{r}_{vdW}rvdW​. In a special case, when the two heavy atoms are in resonance, ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}$ is approximately constant: ${a}_{\ensuremath{-}}^{(1)}=\ensuremath{-}(6.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.6){r}_{vdW,HL}$.