2021/11/18 by James F. E. Croft, Croft, James F. E., John L. Bohn +3 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Dust and Plasma Wave Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.09956
openalex publication_date 2021/11/18 · openalex created_date 2022/05/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the lifetimes of complexes formed in ultracold molecule collisions. Employing both transition-state-theory and an optical model approach we examine processes that can extend the lifetime of complexes beyond that predicted by Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory. We focus on complexes that possess only one open channel, and find that the extreme distribution of widths for this case favors low decay rates. Thus decay from a complex into a single energetically available channel can be anomalously slow, and moreover nonexponential in time. We apply the theory to two systems of current experimental interest, RbCs and NaRb, finding qualitatively that the empirical time scales can be accounted for in the theory.