Given an interatomic potential of the form , let the coupling constant be reduced below , either in concept or by means of some newly developed low-temperature techniques involving Feshbach resonances. It is then found that Efimov trimers are created with binding energies in the millikelvin (mK) range. The green lines represent the energies of these Efimov states as a function of coupling constant. As the temperature is raised these dissociate directly into three free atoms. If, however, is increased, while maintaining the low temperature, the trimers are found to dissociate into dimers+monomers, which occupy the solid green region of the graphic.

The author, in collaboration with L. L. Lohr [3], derived exact solutions for dimers and trimers based on a model in which the interatomic interaction has the form of a Dirac bubble potential, . As shown by Efimov, the precise form of the interatomic potential is not important, only its resonant character. The results derived to construct the graphic can therefore be considered to be of general validity.