Universal loss dynamics in a unitary bose gas

  • Ulrich Eismann
  • , Lev Khaykovich
  • , Sébastien Laurent
  • , Igor Ferrier-Barbut
  • , Benno S. Rem
  • , Andrew T. Grier
  • , Marion Delehaye
  • , Frédéric Chevy
  • , Christophe Salomon
  • , Li Chung Ha
  • , Cheng Chin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

The low-temperature unitary Bose gas is a fundamental paradigm in few-body and many-body physics, attracting wide theoretical and experimental interest. Here, we present experiments performed with unitary 133Cs and 7Li atoms in two different setups, which enable quantitative comparison of the three-body recombination rate in the low-temperature domain. We develop a theoretical model that describes the dynamic competition between two-body evaporation and three-body recombination in a harmonically trapped unitary atomic gas above the condensation temperature. We identify a universal "magic" trap depth where, within some parameter range, evaporative cooling is balanced by recombination heating and the gas temperature stays constant. Our model is developed for the usual three-dimensional evaporation regime as well as the two-dimensional evaporation case, and it fully supports our experimental findings. Combined 133Cs and 7Li experimental data allow investigations of loss dynamics over 2 orders of magnitude in temperature and 4 orders of magnitude in three-body loss rate. We confirm the 1/T2 temperature universality law. In particular, we measure, for the first time, the Efimov inelasticity parameter η*=0.098(7) for the 47.8-G d-wave Feshbach resonance in 133Cs. Our result supports the universal loss dynamics of trapped unitary Bose gases up to a single parameter η*.

Original languageEnglish
Article number021025
JournalPhysical Review X
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Science Foundation1511696

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