Resonant atom-dimer relaxation in ultracold atoms

Three-body systems with large scattering length display universal phenomena associated with a discrete scaling symmetry. These phenomena include resonant enhancement of three-body loss rates when an Effimov three-body resonance is at the scattering threshold. In particular, there can be resonant peaks in the atom-dimer relaxation rate for large positive scattering length. We improve upon earlier studies and calculate the atom-dimer relaxation rate as a function of temperature using a Bose-Einstein distribution for the thermal average. As input, we use calculations of the atom-dimer scattering phase shifts from effective field theory. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2009