@article {1289, title = {Ultracold collision properties of metastable alkaline-earth atoms}, journal = {Physical Review Letters}, volume = {90}, year = {2003}, month = {2003/2/13}, abstract = { Ultra-cold collisions of spin-polarized 24Mg,40Ca, and 88Sr in the metastable 3P2 excited state are investigated. We calculate the long-range interaction potentials and estimate the scattering length and the collisional loss rate as a function of magnetic field. The estimates are based on molecular potentials between 3P2 alkaline-earth atoms obtained from ab initio atomic and molecular structure calculations. The scattering lengths show resonance behavior due to the appearance of a molecular bound state in a purely long-range interaction potential and are positive for magnetic fields below 50 mT. A loss-rate model shows that losses should be smallest near zero magnetic field and for fields slightly larger than the resonance field, where the scattering length is also positive. }, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.063002}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210076v1}, author = {Andrei Derevianko and Sergey G. Porsev and Svetlana Kotochigova and Eite Tiesinga and Paul S. Julienne} }