Universality in molecular halo clusters

Van der Waals five-body size-energy universality

A universal relationship between scaled size and scaled energy is explored in five-body self-bound quantum systems. The ground-state binding energy and structure properties are obtained by means of the diffusion Monte Carlo method. We use pure estimators to eliminate any residual bias in the estimation of the cluster size. Strengthening the inter-particle interaction, we extend the exploration from the halo region to classical systems. Universal scaled size-scaled energy line, which does not depend on the short-range potential details and binding strength, is found for homogeneous pentamers with interaction potentials decaying at long range predominantly as \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$r^{-6}$$\end{document}r-6. For mixed pentamers, we discuss under which conditions the universal line can approximately describe the size-energy ratio. Our data is compatible with generalized Tjon lines, which assume a linear dependence between the binding energy of the pentamers and the one of tetramers, when both are divided by the trimer energies.

Thermodynamics of Helium-4 Dimerization and Trimerization

A new equation of state (EOS) for helium-4 is used to obtain the equilibrium thermochemical properties of helium-4 dimerization (2⁴He ⇌ ⁴He₂) and trimerization (3⁴He ⇌ ⁴He₃) between 3.0 and 10.0 K. It is shown that at sufficiently low temperatures there are appreciable populations of dimer and trimer. The calculations account only for monomer, dimer, and trimer. At 3.0 K, the respective K_P^o values for dimerization and trimerization are 0.4832 and 0.4876, respectively. The standard enthalpy changes at 3.0 K are -54.53 and -110.0 J/mol, and standard entropy changes are -24.22 and -42.97 J/mol-K. Statistical thermodynamic calculations provide results that are qualitatively consistent with those obtained from the EOS calculations.

Quantum halo states in two-dimensional dipolar clusters

A halo is an intrinsically quantum object defined as a bound state of a spatial size which extends deeply into the classically forbidden region. Previously, halos have been observed in bound states of two and less frequently of three atoms. Here, we propose a realization of halo states containing as many as six atoms. We report the binding energies, pair correlation functions, spatial distributions, and sizes of few-body clusters composed by bosonic dipolar atoms in a bilayer geometry. We find two very distinct halo structures, for large interlayer separation the halo structure is roughly symmetric and we discover an unusual highly anisotropic shape of halo states close to the unbinding threshold. Our results open avenues of using ultracold gases for the experimental realization of halos composed by atoms with dipolar interactions and containing as many as six atoms.

Universality of size-energy ratio in four-body systems

Universal relationship of scaled size and scaled energy, which was previously established for two- and three-body systems in their ground state, is examined for four-body systems, using Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We study in detail the halo region, in which systems are extremely weakly bound. Strengthening the interparticle interaction we extend the exploration all the way to classical systems. Universal size-energy law is found for homogeneous tetramers in the case of interaction potentials decaying predominantly as r⁻⁶. In the case of mixed tetramers, we also show under which conditions the universal line can approximately describe the size-energy ratio. The universal law can be used to extract ground-state energy from experimentally measurable structural characteristics, as well as for evaluation of theoretical interaction models.

Unraveling the Structure of Ultracold Mesoscopic Collinear Molecular Ions

We present an in-depth many-body investigation of the so-called mesoscopic molecular ions that can buildup when an ion is immersed into an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in one dimension. To this end, we employ the multilayer multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree method for mixtures of ultracold bosonic species for solving the underlying many-body Schrödinger equation. This enables us to unravel the actual structure of such massive charged molecules from a microscopic perspective. Laying out their phase diagram with respect to atom number and interatomic interaction strength, we determine the maximal number of atoms bound to the ion and reveal spatial densities and molecular properties. Interestingly, we observe a strong interaction-induced localization, especially for the ion, that we explain by the generation of a large effective mass, similarly to ions in liquid Helium. Finally, we predict the dynamical response of the ion to small perturbations. Our results provide clear evidence for the importance of quantum correlations, as we demonstrate by benchmarking them with wave function ansatz classes employed in the literature.

Quantum Halo States in Helium Tetramers

The universality of quantum halo states enables a comparison of systems from different fields of physics, as demonstrated in two- and three-body clusters. In the present work, we studied weakly bound helium tetramers in order to test whether some of these four-body realistic systems qualify as halos. Their ground-state binding energies and structural properties were thoroughly estimated using the diffusion Monte Carlo method with pure estimators. Helium tetramer properties proved to be less sensitive on the potential model than previously evaluated trimer properties. We predict the existence of realistic four-body halo ⁴He₂³He₂, whereas ⁴He₄ and ⁴He₃³He are close to the border and thus can be used as prototypes of quasi-halo systems. Our results could be tested by the experimental determination of the tetramers' structural properties using a setup similar to the one developed for the study of helium trimers.

Ground-state properties of weakly bound helium-alkali trimers

Weakly bound triatomic molecules consisting of two helium atoms and one alkali metal atom are studied by means of the diffusion Monte Carlo method. We determined the stability of ⁴He₂A, ⁴He³HeA, and ³He₂A, where A is one of the alkali atoms Li, Na, K, Rb, or Cs. Some of the trimers with ³He are predicted to be self-bound for the first time, but this is observed to be dependent on the He-A interaction potential model. In addition to the ground-state energy of the trimers, we determined their density, radial, and angular distributions. Many of them are spatially very extended, which qualifies them as quantum halo states.