Resonant Dimer Relaxation in Cold Atoms with a Large Scattering Length

Abstract

Efimov physics refers to universal phenomena associated with a discrete scaling symmetry in the 3-body problem with a large scattering length. The first experimental evidence for Efimov physics was the recent observation of a resonant peak in the 3-body recombination rate for 133Cs atoms with large negative scattering length. There can also be resonant peaks in the atom-dimer relaxation rate for large positive scattering length. We calculate the atom-dimer relaxation rate as a function of temperature and show how measurements of the relaxation rate can be used to determine accurately the parameters that govern Efimov physics.