Metastability versus collapse following a quench in attractive Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

We consider a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with attractive two-body interactions in a cigar-shaped trap, initially prepared in its ground state for a given negative scattering length, which is quenched to a larger absolute value of the scattering length. Using the mean-field approximation, we compute numerically, for an experimentally relevant range of aspect ratios and initial strengths of the coupling, two critical values of quench: one corresponds to the weakest attraction strength the quench to which causes the system to collapse before completing even a single return from the narrow configuration ("perihelion") in its breathing cycle. The other is a similar critical point for the occurrence of collapse before completing two returns. In the latter case, we also compute the limiting value, as we keep increasing the strength of the post-quench attraction towards its critical value, of the time interval between the first two perihelia. We also use a Gaussian variational model to estimate the critical quenched attraction strength below which the system is stable against the collapse for long times. These time intervals and critical attraction strengths---apart from being fundamental properties of nonlinear dynamics of self-attractive BECs---may provide clues to the design of upcoming experiments that are trying to create robust BEC breathers.