ABSTRACT
In the past few decades, the progress made by the field of ultracold quantum gases has increasingly been translated into promising prospects for controlling atomic and molecular behavior. The present day ability to manipulate interactions and to precisely prepare the system in a well defined quantum state enables ultracold quantum gases experiments to explore a variety of complex few-body phenomena to an unprecedented level of detail. In this talk, I will discuss how theory and experiment were brought together to provide a better understanding of universal few-body phenomena —typically associated to the long-range behavior of the system— but also how certain chemical processes occur when atoms are found at close-distances. At the center of these advances is the understanding of the relevance of the multichannel nature of interatomic interactions originating from the atomic hyperfine structure. This new understanding allows us to construct more realistic models capable of accurately describing experimental observations regarding Efimov physics, identify novel propensity rules and control schemes for ultracold chemical reactions, and elucidate current experimental puzzles that challenge our understanding of universal few-body physics.