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arXiv · cond-mat/0703308

Condensates of Strongly-interacting Atoms and Dynamically Generated Dimers

Eric Braaten·Dongqing Zhang
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Abstract

In a system of atoms with large positive scattering length, weakly-bound diatomic molecules (dimers) are generated dynamically by the strong interactions between the atoms. If the atoms are modeled by a quantum field theory with an atom field only, condensates of dimers cannot be described by the mean-field approximation because there is no field associated with the dimers. We develop a method for describing dimer condensates in such a model based on the one-particle-irreducible (1PI) effective action. We construct an equivalent 1PI effective action that depends not only on the classical atom field but also on a classical dimer field. The method is illustrated by applying it to the many-body behavior of bosonic atoms with large scattering length at zero temperature using an approximation in which the 2-atom amplitude is treated exactly but irreducible $N$-atom amplitudes for $N \ge 3$ are neglected. The two 1PI effective actions give identical results for the atom superfluid phase, but the one with a classical dimer field is much more convenient for describing the dimer superfluid phase. The results are also compared with previous work on the Bose gas near a Feshbach resonance.

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Eric Braaten, Dongqing Zhang. 2007-03-12. Condensates of Strongly-interacting Atoms and Dynamically Generated Dimers. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.75.063624

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