Full-dimensional quantum mechanical study of three-body recombination for cold 4He-4He-20Ne system.

Abstract

The increase of the number of the two-body recombination channels strongly challenges the numerical calculation of the accurate rates for the three-body recombination (TBR) process and its reverse process, collision-induced dissociation (CID), at ultracold temperatures. By taking the 4He-4He-20Ne collision system as an example, we have obtained the rates for its TBR and CID processes involving all four recombination channels, including the two-body states 4He2 (l = 0) and 4He20Ne (l = 0, 1, 2) with l the rotational quantum number. By using the adiabatic hyperspherical method, we have considered not only total angular momentum J = 0 but also J > 0 in the ultracold collision energies (E = 0.01 - 100mK × kB). It is found that 4He2 (l = 0) is the major product after the TBR process in the ultracold limit (E ≤ 0.1mK × kB). The TBR rate into 4He2 (l = 0) is nearly one order of magnitude larger than the sum of the other three products, 4He20Ne (l = 0, 1, 2). Moreover, the CID rates for the three 4He20Ne (l = 0, 1, 2) + 4He initial states are close to each other and are smaller than that for the 4He2 (l = 0) + 20Ne initial state. Additionally, we have, for the first time, performed the channel-resolved scattering calculation that can explain the above-mentioned findings quantitatively.