Conventionally, chemical reactions are studied at room temperature, where the quantum states of reactants and products are thermally distributed. In this regime, the underlying state-to-state reaction dynamics are obscured by thermal averaging. While recent advances in quantum technologies enable the study of ultracold chemical reactions with state-to-state precision, controlling the product distributions remains experimentally challenging due to the vast number of product channels. 

Rather than attempting to control individual product states, we demonstrate a method to manipulate populations in different symmetry sectors. Here, we propose a symmetry-protected quantum control protocol in which the relative populations of distinct symmetry sectors are tuned by preparing the reactants in a coherent superposition of symmetry eigenstates. We show how parity and quantum statistics constrain product populations across different sectors for identical particles, providing a general and extensible route to coherent control in reaction dynamics.

Pizza and drinks will be served after the seminar in ATL 2117.