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Formation of shock waves in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Bogdan Damski
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Abstract

We consider propagation of density wave packets in a Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that the shape of initially broad, laser-induced, density perturbation changes in the course of free time evolution so that a shock wave front finally forms. Our results are well beyond predictions of commonly used zero-amplitude approach, so they can be useful in extraction of a speed of sound from experimental data. We discuss a simple experimental setup for shock propagation and point out possible limitations of the mean-field approach for description of shock phenomena in a BEC.

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Bogdan Damski. 2004-02-17. Formation of shock waves in a Bose-Einstein condensate. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.69.043610

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