Cold atom-atom-anion three-body recombination of 4He4HexLi− (x = 6 or 7) systems.

Atom-atom-anion three-body recombination (TBR) in mixed 4He and xLi− (x = 6 or 7) is investigated in the adiabatic hyperspherical representation by quantum mechanically solving the Schrödinger equation. The distributions of product states following these TBR processes are found to be relatively different for the two systems when the collision energy is less than roughly 0.6 mK × kB or 0.3 mK × kB for 4He4He6Li− and 4He4He7Li− systems, respectively, with kB being the Boltzmann constant. For 4He4He6Li− systems, the rate of recombination into (v = 0) l = 04He6Li− molecular anions is the largest with v and l denoting the rovibrational quantum numbers, while the TBR rate that leads to the formation of l = 14He6Li− molecular anions is a little smaller than that of neutral 4He2 molecules. For 4He4He7Li− systems, neutral 4He2 molecules tend to be the most products, following the yields of l = 0 and 1 4He7Li− molecular anions. However, in spite of these distinctly different distributions, the products of molecular anions, the sum of l = 0 and 1 4HexLi− products, are relatively larger than that of neutral 4He2 molecules for both the two systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]