Complex collisions of ultracold molecules: A toy model
Abstract
We introduce a model to study the collisions of two ultracold diatomic molecules in one dimension interacting via pairwise potentials. We present results for this system and argue that it offers lessons for real molecular collisions in three dimensions. We analyze the distribution of the adiabatic potentials in the hyperspherical coordinate representation as well as the distribution of near-threshold four-body bound states, systematically studying the effects of molecular properties, such as interaction strength, interaction range, and atomic mass. It is found that the adiabatic potential's nearest-neighbor energy level distribution transitions from significant level repulsion characteristic of chaos (Brody distribution) to nonchaotic (Poisson distribution) as the two molecules are separated. For the near-threshold four-atom bound states, the case where all atoms have equal masses shows a Poissonian spacing distribution, while the unequal-mass system exhibits significant level repulsion characterized by a nonzero Brody parameter. We derive a semiclassical formula for the density of states and extract from it simple scaling laws with potential depth and range. We find good agreement between the semiclassical predictions for the density of states and the full quantum mechanical calculations.
Additional Information
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by the American Physical Society. Received 2 August 2021; accepted 15 October 2021; published 10 November 2021. K.R.A.H. acknowledges support in part from funds from the Welch Foundation, Grant No. C-1872, and the National Science Foundation Grant No. PHY-1848304. K.R.A.H. thanks the Aspen Center for Physics, which is supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. PHY-1066293, for its hospitality while part of this work was performed.Attached Files
Published - PhysRevA.104.053311.pdf
Submitted - 1906.06960.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 112000
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20211123-163044553
- C-1872
- Robert A. Welch Foundation
- PHY-1848304
- NSF
- PHY-1066293
- NSF
- Created
-
2021-11-23Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-23Created from EPrint's last_modified field