Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
Published on: March 30, 2017
Possible efimov trimer state in a three-hyperfine-component lithium-6 mixture
1ERATO Macroscopic Quantum Project, JST, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. pascal@cat.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abstract:
We consider the Efimov trimer theory as a possible framework to explain recently observed losses by inelastic three-body collisions in a three-hyperfine-component ultracold mixture of lithium 6. Within this framework, these losses would arise chiefly from the existence of an Efimov trimer bound state below the continuum of free triplets of atoms, and the loss maxima (at certain values of an applied magnetic field) would correspond to zero-energy resonances where the trimer dissociates into three free atoms. Our results show that such a trimer state is indeed possible given the two-body scattering lengths in the three-component lithium mixture and gives rise to two zero-energy resonances. The locations of these resonances appear to be consistent with observed losses.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Valence Bond Theory
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Overview
¹H NMR: Complex Splitting
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied first.
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human eye.
Electron Configuration of Multielectron Atoms

