Feshbach Resonance and Hybrid Atomic/Molecular BEC-Systems

Abstract

The interactions responsible for Feshbach resonances in binary atom collisions produce a condensate of molecules in the atomic BEC-system. We discuss the `ground state' of the condensate system and illustrate that its properties differ quantitatively and qualitatively from the properties of a single condensate with atom-atom interactions described by the effective scattering length that characterizes the binary atomic collisions. We show, for example, that the tunneling of atom pairs between the atomic and molecular condensates lowers the energy and can bind the condensate system, giving it the liquid-like property of a self-determined density.