Quantum nonlinear effects in the number-conserving analogue gravity of Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

We consider the quantum dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates at absolute zero, and demonstrate that an analogue gravity model going beyond the standard linearized analogue gravity paradigm \`a la Unruh must take into account the backreaction of quasiparticle excitations onto the condensate background. This requires that one expands to second order in perturbation amplitude and thus takes the intrinsic nonlinearity of the theory into account. It is shown that, as a result, significant modifications of the standard paradigm occur. In particular, to obtain a fully Lorentz-covariant equation in curved spacetime for second-order perturbations, we demonstrate that it is necessary to introduce, to leading order in powers of the formal mean-field expansion parameter $N^{-1/2}$ (where $N$ is total particle number), a quantum-fluctuation-renormalized spacetime metric which substantially differs from the Unruh acoustic spacetime metric and, to subleading order $1/N$, two emergent vector fields and a mass term. Both the renormalized metric as well as the vector fields and the mass then keep track of the backreaction of the quasiparticles onto the condensate up to the order in powers of $N^{-1/2}$ considered. Finally, we apply our formalism to an analogue-cosmological Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker metric and establish its renormalized form due to the quantum many-body backreaction exerted by the excitation cloud.