Coupled-channel analysis of Ne{sup } thermalization cross section

We investigate the relation between the thermalization cross section {sub T} and the scattering length a of spin-polarized metastable neon (Ne{sup *}) in the Doppler-limited temperature regime. We show that a temperature-dependent, quantum-mechanical, five-channel calculation allows one to obtain a consistent with the mass scaling rule between {sup 20}Ne{sup *} and {sup 22}Ne{sup *} from recent data of {sub T} by Spoden et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 223201 (2005)]. We find a=+24{sub -5}{sup +5}a{sub 0} or a=-128{sub -22}{sup +16}a{sub 0} for {sup 20}Ne{sup *} and +115 < or approx. a < or approx. +160a{sub 0} for {sup 22}Ne{sup *}, respectively. According to numerical simulations of the evaporative cooling process, these values of a are not large enough to make Bose-Einstein condensation of Ne{sup *} feasible for realistic experimental conditions, given the measured ionization rate constants.