Ultracold chemical reactions reveal the quantum mechanism of product formation

Ultracold state-to-state chemistry for three-body recombination in realistic 3He2-alkaline-earth-metal systems

The ultracold state-to-state chemistry for three-body recombination (TBR) in realistic systems recently could be experimentally investigated with full quantum state resolution. However, many detected phenomena remain challenging to be explored and explained from the theoretical viewpoints because this generally requires computational powers beyond the state-of-the-art. Here, the product-state distributions after TBR of 3He2-alkaline-earth-metal systems, i.e. after the processes 3He+3He+X→3HeX+3He with X being 9Be, 24Mg, 40Ca, 88Sr, or 138Ba, in the zero-collision-energy limit are theoretically studied. Two propensity rules for the distribution of the products found in current experiments have been checked, and the mechanism underlying these product-state distributions is explored. Particularly, two main intriguing transition pathways are identified, which may be responsible for the nonlinear distribution of the products versus their rotational quantum number. In addition, the total TBR rates of these systems are also accounted for by the joint effects of major adiabatic potential energies and relevant nonadiabatic couplings.