Dynamics of a few interacting bosons escaping from an open well

Abstract

The dynamics of a few ultra-cold bosons tunneling from a one-dimensional potential well into open space is studied. In such a system several decay channels can be distinguished, each corresponding to a different number of bosons escaping simultaneously. We show that as the interparticle interaction strength is changed, the system undergoes transitions between distinct regimes characterized by the dominance of different decay channels. These transitions are reflected in the behavior of the decay rate of the system, which is measurable experimentally. By means of a simple theoretical description we show that the transitions occur at the points where a new decay channel becomes energetically viable. The results provide insight into the behavior of decaying few-body systems and may have potential interest to experiments.