Abstract
We analyze scattering of a heavy atom off a weakly bound molecule comprising an identical heavy and a light atom in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We focus on the situation where the heavy atoms are bosons, which was realized in several experiments. The elastic and inelastic cross sections for the atom-molecular scattering exhibit a series of resonances corresponding to three-body Efimov states. Resonances in elastic collisions are accessible experimentally through thermalization rates and thus constitute an alternative way of observing Efimov states.
- Received 25 May 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.80.022714
©2009 American Physical Society