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arXiv:1302.5617 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Universal relation for the inelastic two-body loss rate

Eric Braaten, H.‐W. Hammer

Published Oct 28, 2013• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Strongly interacting systems consisting of particles that interact through a large scattering length satisfy universal relations that relate many of their central properties to the contact, which measures the number of pairs with small separations. We use the operator product expansion of quantum field theory to derive the universal relation for the inelastic two-body loss rate. A simple universal relation between the loss rate and the contact is obtained by truncating the expansion after the lowest dimension operator. We verify the universal relation explicitly by direct calculations in the low-density limit at nonzero temperature. This universal relation can be tested experimentally using ultracold quantum gases of atoms in hyperfine states that have an inelastic spin-relaxation channel.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/46/21/215203

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Strongly interacting systems consisting of particles that interact through a large scattering length satisfy universal relations that relate many of their central properties to the contact, which measures the number of pairs with small separations. We use the operator product expansion of quantum field theory to derive the universal relation for the inelastic two-body loss rate. A simple universal relation between the loss rate and the contact is obtained by truncating the expansion after the lowest dimension operator. We verify the universal relation explicitly by direct calculations in the low-density limit at nonzero temperature. This universal relation can be tested experimentally using ultracold quantum gases of atoms in hyperfine states that have an inelastic spin-relaxation channel.
Physical systems in reduced dimensions exhibit intriguing properties. For instance, the dependences of two-body and many-body physics on scattering lengths are distinct from their counterparts in three dimensions. Whereas many studies of ultracold atoms and molecules in reduced dimensions have been focusing on closed systems, two-body losses may occur in such systems. Here, we show that the two-body inelastic loss rate in reduced dimensions can be expressed in universal relations that are governed by contacts. These universal relations correlate the two-body decay rate with other physical observables at zero and finite temperatures and generic interaction strengths. Our results will provide experimentalists with a new protocol to study inelastic scatterings in both few- and many-body systems in reduced dimensions.
Shina Tan has derived some universal relations that hold for any state of a system consisting of fermions with two spin states that have a large scattering length. These relations involve an intensive quantity called the contact that measures the number of pairs of atoms that are very close together. We show how these relations can be derived in the framework of quantum field theory using standard renormalization methods and the operator product expansion. They allow the contact density to be identified as the expectation value of a local operator constructed out of quantum fields.
Universal relations that hold for any state provide powerful constraints on systems consisting of fermions with two spin states interacting with a large scattering length. In radio-frequency (rf) spectroscopy, the mean shift in the rf frequency and the large-frequency tail of the rf transition rate are proportional to the contact, which measures the density of pairs with small separations. We show that these universal relations can be derived and extended by using the short-time operator product expansion of quantum field theory. This is a general method for identifying aspects of many-body physics that are controlled by few-body physics.
Understanding the emergence of novel collective behaviors in strongly interacting systems lies at the heart of quantum many-body physics. Valuable insight comes from examining how few-body correlations manifest in many-body systems, embodying the ``from few to many'' philosophy. An intriguing example is the set of universal relations in ultracold atomic gases, which connect a wide range of observables to a single quantity known as the contact. In this Letter, we demonstrate that universal relations manifest in a distinct class of quantum many-body systems, long-range quantum spin chains, which belong to a completely new universality class. Using effective field theory and the operator product expansion, we establish connections between the asymptotic behavior of equal-time spin correlation functions, the dynamical structure factor, and the contact density. The theoretical predictions for equal-time correlators are explicitly verified through numerical simulations based on matrix product states. Our results could be readily tested in state-of-the-art trapped-ion systems.
The behavior of fermions with two spin states that interact with a large scattering length is constrained by universal relations that hold for any state of the system. These relations involve a central property of the system called the contact, which measures the number of pairs of fermions with different spins that have small separations. The contact controls the thermodynamics of the system as well as the large-momentum and high-frequency tails of correlation functions. This review summarizes the current theoretical and experimental status of these universal relations.
In a recent experiment with ultracold trapped Rb85 atoms, Makotyn et al. studied a quantum-degenerate Bose gas in the unitary limit where its scattering length is infinitely large. We show that the observed momentum distributions are compatible with a universal relation that expresses the high-momentum tail in terms of the two-body contact C2 and the three-body contact C3. We determine the contact densities for the unitary Bose gas with number density n to be C2 ≈ 20 n(4/3) and C3 ≈ 2n(5/3). We also show that the observed atom loss rate is compatible with that from 3-atom inelastic collisions, which gives a contribution proportional to C3, but the loss rate is not compatible with that from 2-atom inelastic collisions, which gives a contribution proportional to C2. We point out that the contacts C2 and C3 could be measured independently by using the virial theorem near and at unitarity, respectively.