arXiv subjects

Amandine Aftalion

Publications and source records attributed to Amandine Aftalion.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Phase diagrams and Thomas-Fermi estimates for spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates under rotation

We provide complete phase diagrams describing the ground state of a trapped spinor BEC under the combined effects of rotation and a Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The interplay between the different parameters (magnitude of rotation, strength of the spin-orbit coupling and interaction) leads to a rich ground state physics that we classify. We explain some features analytically in the Thomas-Fermi approximation, writing the problem in terms of the total density, total phase and spin. In particular, we analyze the giant skyrmion, and find that it is of degree 1 in the strong segregation case. In some regions of the phase diagrams, we relate the patterns to a ferromagnetic energy.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

A minimal interface problem arising from a two component Bose Einstein condensate via $\G$-convergence

We consider the energy modeling a two component Bose-Einstein condensate in the limit of strong coupling and strong segregation. We prove the $Γ$-convergence to a perimeter minimization problem, with a weight given by the density of the condensate. In the case of equal mass for the two components, this leads to symmetry breaking for the ground state. The proof relies on a new formulation of the problem in terms of the total density and spin functions, which turns the energy into the sum of two weighted Cahn-Hilliard energies. Then, we use techniques coming from geometric measure theory to construct upper and lower bounds. In particular, we make use of the slicing technique introduced in Ambrosio-Tororelli (CPAM, 1990).

math.AP↗

arXiv2012

Vortex-peak interaction and lattice shape in rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

When a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate is placed into rotation, a lattice of vortices and cores appear. The geometry of this lattice (triangular or square) varies according to the rotational value and the intercomponent coupling strengths. In this paper, assuming a Thomas-Fermi regime, we derive a point energy which allows us to determine for which values of the parameters, the lattice goes from triangular to square. It turns out that the separating curve in the phase diagram agrees fully with the complete numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equations. We also derive a formula for the critical velocity of appearance of the first vortex and prove that the first vortex always appears first in the component with largest support in the case of two disks, and give a criterion in the case of disk and annulus.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Adiabatic approximation for a two-level atom in a light beam

Several misprints and small mistakes were in the initial version. They have been corrected. Following the recent experimental realization of synthetic gauge magnetic forces, Jean Dalibard adressed the question whether the adiabatic ansatz could be math- ematically justified for a model of an atom in 2 internal states, shone by a quasi resonant laser beam. In this paper, we derive rigorously the asymptotic model guessed by the physicists, and show that this asymptotic analysis contains the in- formation about the presence of vortices. Surprisingly the main difficulties do not come from the nonlinear part but from the linear Hamiltonian. More precisely, the analysis of the nonlinear minimization problem and its asymptotic reduction to simpler ones, relies on an accurate partition of low and high frequencies (or mo- menta). This requires to reconsider carefully previous mathematical works about the adiabatic limit. Although the estimates are not sharp, this asymptotic analysis provides a good insight about the validity of the asymptotic picture, with respect to the size of the many parameters initially put in the complete model.

math.AP↗

arXiv2011

A classification of the ground states and topological defects in a rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

We classify the ground states and topological defects of a rotating two-component condensate when varying several parameters: the intracomponent coupling strengths, the intercomponent coupling strength and the particle numbers.No restriction is placed on the masses or trapping frequencies of the individual components. We present numerical phase diagrams which show the boundaries between the regions of coexistence, spatial separation and symmetry breaking. Defects such as triangular coreless vortex lattices, square coreless vortex lattices and giant skyrmions are classified. Various aspects of the phase diagrams are analytically justified thanks to a non-linear $σ$ model that describes the condensate in terms of the total density and a pseudo-spin representation.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Non existence of vortices in the small density region of a condensate

In this paper, we answer a question raised by Len Pitaevskii and prove that the ground state of the Gross-Pitaevskii energy describing a Bose Einstein condensate at low rotation does not have vortices in the low density region. Therefore, the first ground state with vortices has its vortices in the bulk. This is obtained by proving that for small rotational velocities, the ground state is multiple of the ground state with zero rotation. We rely on sharp bounds of the decay of the wave function combined with weighted jacobian estimates.

math-ph↗

arXiv2009

Rotation of a Bose-Einstein Condensate held under a toroidal trap

The aim of this paper is to perform a numerical and analytical study of a rotating Bose Einstein condensate placed in a harmonic plus Gaussian trap, following the experiments of \cite{bssd}. The rotational frequency $Ω$ has to stay below the trapping frequency of the harmonic potential and we find that the condensate has an annular shape containing a triangular vortex lattice. As $Ω$ approaches $ω$, the width of the condensate and the circulation inside the central hole get large. We are able to provide analytical estimates of the size of the condensate and the circulation both in the lowest Landau level limit and the Thomas-Fermi limit, providing an analysis that is consistent with experiment.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2008

Fast rotating condensates in an asymmetric harmonic trap

We investigate the effect of the anisotropy of a harmonic trap on the behaviour of a fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. Fast rotation is reached when the rotational velocity is close to the smallest trapping frequency, thereby deconfining the condensate in the corresponding direction. A striking new feature is the non-existence of visible vortices for the ground state. The condensate can be described with the lowest Landau level set of states, but using distorted complex coordinates. We find that the coarse grained atomic density behaves like an inverted parabola with large radius in the deconfined direction, and like a fixed Gaussian in the other direction. It has no visible vortices, but invisible vortices which are needed to recover the mixed Thomas-Fermi Gaussian profile. There is a regime of small anisotropy and intermediate rotational velocity where the behaviour is similar to the isotropic case: a hexagonal Abrikosov lattice of vortices, with an inverted parabola profile.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensates in an asymmetric trap

We investigate the effect of the anisotropy of a harmonic trap on the behaviour of a fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. This is done in the framework of the 2D Gross-Pitaevskii equation and requires a symplectic reduction of the quadratic form defining the energy. This reduction allows us to simplify the energy on a Bargmann space and study the asymptotics of large rotational velocity. We characterize two regimes of velocity and anisotropy; in the first one where the behaviour is similar to the isotropic case, we construct an upper bound: a hexagonal Abrikosov lattice of vortices, with an inverted parabola profile. The second regime deals with very large velocities, a case in which we prove that the ground state does not display vortices in the bulk, with a 1D limiting problem. In that case, we show that the coarse grained atomic density behaves like an inverted parabola with large radius in the deconfined direction but keeps a fixed profile given by a Gaussian in the other direction. The features of this second regime appear as new phenomena.

math.AP↗

arXiv2008

On mathematical models for Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices (expanded version)

Our aim is to analyze the various energy functionals appearing in the physics literature and describing the behavior of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice. We want to justify the use of some reduced models. For that purpose, we will use the semi-classical analysis developed for linear problems related to the Schrödinger operator with periodic potential or multiple wells potentials. We justify, in some asymptotic regimes, the reduction to low dimensional problems and analyze the reduced problems.

math.AP↗

arXiv2007

Nonclassical rotational inertia for a supersolid under rotation

As proposed by Leggett [4], the supersolidity of a crystal is characterized by the Non Classical Rotational Inertia (NCRI) property. Using a model of quantum crystal introduced by Josserand, Pomeau and Rica [5], we prove that NCRI occurs. This is done by analyzing the ground state of the aforementioned model, which is related to a sphere packing problem, and then deriving a theoretical formula for the inertia momentum. We infer a lower estimate for the NCRI fraction, which is a landmark of supersolidity.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Vortex distribution in the Lowest Landau Level

We study the vortex distribution of the wave functions minimizing the Gross Pitaevskii energy for a fast rotating condensate in the Lowest Landau Level (LLL): we prove that the minimizer cannot have a finite number of zeroes thus the lattice is infinite, but not uniform. This uses the explicit expression of the projector onto the LLL. We also show that any slow varying envelope function can be approximated in the LLL by distorting the lattice. This is used in particular to approximate the inverted parabola and understand the role of ``invisible'' vortices: the distortion of the lattice is very small in the Thomas Fermi region but quite large outside, where the "invisible" vortices lie.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2004

Vortex patterns in a fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

For a fast rotating condensate in a harmonic trap, we investigate the structure of the vortex lattice using wave functions minimizing the Gross Pitaveskii energy in the Lowest Landau Level. We find that the minimizer of the energy in the rotating frame has a distorted vortex lattice for which we plot the typical distribution. We compute analytically the energy of an infinite regular lattice and of a class of distorted lattices. We find the optimal distortion and relate it to the decay of the wave function. Finally, we generalize our method to other trapping potentials.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2003

Giant vortices in combined harmonic and quartic traps

We consider a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate confined in combined harmonic and quartic traps, following recent experiments [V. Bretin, S. Stock, Y. Seurin and J. Dalibard, cond-mat/0307464]. We investigate numerically the behavior of the wave function which solves the three-dimensional Gross Pitaevskii equation. When the harmonic part of the potential is dominant, as the angular velocities $Omega$ increases, the vortex lattice evolves into a giant vortex. We also investigate a case not covered by the experiments or the previous numerical works: for strong quartic potentials, the giant vortex is obtained for lower $Omega$, before the lattice is formed. We analyze in detail the three dimensional structure of vortices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2003

Three-dimensional vortex configurations in a rotating Bose Einstein condensate

We consider a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap and investigate numerically the behavior of the wave function which solves the Gross Pitaevskii equation. Following recent experiments [Rosenbuch et al, Phys. Rev. Lett., 89, 200403 (2002)], we study in detail the line of a single quantized vortex, which has a U or S shape. We find that a single vortex can lie only in the x-z or y-z plane. S type vortices exist for all values of the angular velocity Omega while U vortices exist for Omega sufficiently large. We compute the energy of the various configurations with several vortices and study the three-dimensional structure of vortices.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2003

Dissipative flow and vortex shedding in the Painlevé boundary layer of a Bose Einstein condensate

Raman et al. have found experimental evidence for a critical velocity under which there is no dissipation when a detuned laser beam is moved in a Bose-Einstein condensate. We analyze the origin of this critical velocity in the low density region close to the boundary layer of the cloud. In the frame of the laser beam, we do a blow up on this low density region which can be described by a Painlevé equation and write the approximate equation satisfied by the wave function in this region. We find that there is always a drag around the laser beam. Though the beam passes through the surface of the cloud and the sound velocity is small in the Painlevé boundary layer, the shedding of vortices starts only when a threshold velocity is reached. This critical velocity is lower than the critical velocity computed for the corresponding 2D problem at the center of the cloud. At low velocity, there is a stationary solution without vortex and the drag is small. At the onset of vortex shedding, that is above the critical velocity, there is a drastic increase in drag.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2002

On the shape of vortices for a rotating Bose Einstein condensate

For a Bose-Einstein condensate placed in a rotating trap, we study the simplified energy of a vortex line derived in Aftalion-Riviere Phys. Rev. A 64, 043611 (2001) in order to determine the shape of the vortex line according to the rotational velocity and the elongation of the condensate. The energy reflects the competition between the length of the vortex which needs to be minimized taking into account the anisotropy of the trap and the rotation term which pushes the vortex along the z axis. We prove that if the condensate has the shape of a pancake, the vortex stays straight along the z axis while in the case of a cigar, the vortex is bent.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2001

Vortex energy and vortex bending for a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

For a Bose-Einstein condensate placed in a rotating trap, we give a simplified expression of the Gross-Pitaevskii energy in the Thomas Fermi regime, which only depends on the number and shape of the vortex lines. Then we check numerically that when there is one vortex line, our simplified expression leads to solutions with a bent vortex for a range of rotationnal velocities and trap parameters which are consistent with the experiments.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗