Reshaped Three-Body Interactions and the Observation of an Efimov State in the Continuum

Efimov trimers are exotic three-body quantum states that emerge from the different types of three-body continua in the vicinity of two-atom Feshbach resonances. In particular, as the strength of the interaction is decreased to a critical point, an Efimov state merges into the atom-dimer threshold an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2024-03
Main Authors: Yudkin, Yaakov, Elbaz, Roy, D'Incao, José P, Julienne, Paul S, Khaykovich, Lev
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Critical point
Dimers
Metastable state
Resonance
Trimers
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Efimov trimers are exotic three-body quantum states that emerge from the different types of three-body continua in the vicinity of two-atom Feshbach resonances. In particular, as the strength of the interaction is decreased to a critical point, an Efimov state merges into the atom-dimer threshold and eventually dissociates into an unbound atom-dimer pair. Here we explore the Efimov state in the vicinity of this critical point using coherent few-body spectroscopy in \(^7\)Li atoms using a narrow two-body Feshbach resonance. Contrary to the expectation, we find that the \(^7\)Li Efimov trimer does not immediately dissociate when passing the threshold, and survives as a metastable state embedded in the atom-dimer continuum. We identify this behavior with a universal phenomenon related to the emergence of a repulsive interaction in the atom-dimer channel which reshapes the three-body interactions in any system characterized by a narrow Feshbach resonance. Specifically, our results shed light on the nature of \(^7\)Li Efimov states and provide a path to understand various puzzling phenomena associated with them.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2308.06237