Boundaries of universality of thermal collisions for atom-atom scattering

Abstract

Thermal rate coefficients for some atomic collisions have been observed to be remarkably independent of the details of interatomic interactions at short range. This makes these rate coefficients universal functions of the long-range interaction parameters and masses, which was previously exploited to develop a self-defining atomic sensor for ambient pressure. Here, we employ rigorous quantum scattering calculations to examine the response of thermally averaged rate coefficients for atom-atom collisions to changes in the interaction potentials. We perform a comprehensive analysis of the universality, and the boundaries thereof, by treating the quantum scattering observables as probabilistic predictions determined by a distribution of interaction potentials. We show that there is a characteristic change of the resulting distributions of rate coefficients, separating light, few-electron atoms and heavy, polarizable atoms. We produce diagrams that illustrate the boundaries of the thermal collision universality at different temperatures and provide guidance for future experiments seeking to exploit the universality.