Ultracold scattering of Rb atoms and bound states of Rb2

The most accurate theoretical potentials available for the interaction of a pair of ground-state Rb atoms are used to evaluate their ultracold scattering properties. The close relation between the zero-energy scattering phase shifts and the number of bound states in the potential, by Levinson's theorem, is used to assign absolute values to the l = 0, 1 and 2 phase shifts. The number of bound states is compared with those resulting from detailed spectroscopic studies on the singlet potential and photoassociation results on the triplet potential. We review the scattering formulae needed to satisfy the Pauli principle for the fermion nuclei of 85Rb and 87Rb and their single unpaired electrons, for all possible initial hyperfine states. Scattering lengths are evaluated and their sensitivity to details of the asymptotic potentials is demonstrated.