Symmetry breaking in sticky collisions between ultracold molecules

Abstract

Ultracold molecules undergo "sticky collisions" that result in loss even for chemically nonreactive molecules. Sticking times can be enhanced by orders of magnitude by interactions that lead to non-conservation of nuclear spin or total angular momentum. We present a quantitative theory of the required strength of such symmetry-breaking interactions based on classical simulation of collision complexes. We find static electric fields as small as 10 V/cm can lead to non-conservation of angular momentum, while we find nuclear spin is conserved during collisions. We also compute loss of collision complexes due to spontaneous emission and absorption of black-body radiation, which are found to be slow.