arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H. T. C. Stoof.
We show that an antiferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate, which can for instance be created with Na-23 atoms in an optical trap, has not only singular line-like vortex excitations, but also allows for singular point-like topological excitations, i.e., 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles. We discuss the static and dynamic properties ofthese monopoles.
We consider the effect of interactions on the line shape of the two-photon 1s-2s transition in a (doubly) spin-polarized atomic hydrogen gas in terms of the interatomic interaction potentials. We show that the frequency-weighted sum rule for the intensity of the line is not given simply in terms of the pseudopotentials that describe the interactions between low-energy atoms. The origin of the departures from the simple pseudopotential result for the frequency-weighted sum rule is traced to what we refer to as incoherent contributions to the spectral weight. These arise from more complicated final states of the many-body system than the ones usually considered. In particular, we show how the relevant response function may be treated in a manner similar to the density-density response function for Fermi liquids, and express it as a coherent part coming from single particle-hole pairs, and an incoherent part coming from other excitations. We argue that in experiments only the coherent part of the response of the system is observed, and its contribution to the frequency-weighted sum rule is shown to be given correctly by the pseudopotential approximation. Finally we calculate the width of the coherent part of the line due to collisional damping.
The recently realized multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates provide opportunities to explore the rich physics brought about by the spin degrees of freedom. For instance, we can study spin waves and phase separation, macroscopic quantum tunneling, Rabi oscillations, the coupling between spin gradients and superfluid flow, squeezed spin states, vortices and other topological excitations. Theoretically, there have been already some studies of the ground-state properties of these systems and their line-like vortex excitations. In analogy with nuclear physics or the quantum Hall effect, we explore here the possibility of observing point-like topological excitations or skyrmions. These are nontrivial spin textures that in principle can exist in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. In particular, we investigate the stability of skyrmions in a fictitious spin-1/2 condensate of Rb87 atoms. We find that skyrmions can exist in this case only as a metastable state, but with a lifetime of the order of, or even longer than, the typical lifetime of the condensate itself. In addition to determining the size and the lifetime of the skyrmion, we also present its spin texture and finally briefly consider its dynamical properties.
We apply the theory of elasticity to study the effects of skyrmion mass on lattice dynamics in quantum Hall systems. We find that massive Skyrme lattices behave like a Wigner crystal in the presence of a uniform perpendicular magnetic field. We make a comparison with the microscopic Hartree-Fock results to characterize the mass of quantum Hall skyrmions at $ν=1$ and investigate how the low temperature phase of Skyrme lattices may be affected by the skyrmion mass.
We present the zero-temperature phase diagram of bosonic atoms in an optical lattice, using two different mean-field approaches. The phase diagram consists of various insulating phases and a superfluid phase. We explore the nature of the insulating phase by calculating both the quasiparticle and quasihole dispersion relation. We also determine the parameters of our single band Bose-Hubbard model in terms of the microscopic parameters of the atoms in the optical lattice.
We show that elastic collisions between atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate with attractive interactions lead to an explosion that ejects a large fraction of the collapsing condensate. We study variationally the dynamics of this explosion and find excellent agreement with recent experiments on magnetically trapped Rubidium-85. We also determine the energy and angular distribution of the ejected atoms during the collapse.
We present a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation that describes also the dissipative dynamics of a trapped partially Bose condensed gas. It takes the form of a complex nonlinear Schrödinger equation with noise. We consider an approximation to this Langevin field equation that preserves the correct equilibrium for both the condensed and the noncondensed parts of the gas. We then use this formalism to describe the reversible formation of a one-dimensional Bose condensate, and compare with recent experiments. In addition, we determine the frequencies and the damping of collective modes in this case.
We study the dynamics of condensate formation in an inhomogeneous trapped Bose gas with a positive interatomic scattering length. We take into account both the nonequilibrium kinetics of the thermal cloud and the Hartree-Fock mean-field effects in the condensed and the noncondensed parts of the gas. Our growth equations are solved numerically by assuming that the thermal component behaves ergodically and that the condensate, treated within the Thomas-Fermi approximation, grows adiabatically. Our simulations are in good qualitative agreement with experiment, however important discrepancies concerning details of the growth behaviour remain.
We calculate the frequencies and damping rates of the low-lying collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensed gas at nonzero temperature. We use a complex nonlinear Schrödinger equation to determine the dynamics of the condensate atoms, and couple it to a Boltzmann equation for the noncondensate atoms. In this manner we take into account both collisions between noncondensate-noncondensate and condensate-noncondensate atoms. We solve the linear response of these equations, using a time-dependent gaussian trial function for the condensate wave function and a truncated power expansion for the deviation function of the thermal cloud. As a result, our calculation turns out to be characterized by two dimensionless parameters proportional to the noncondensate-noncondensate and condensate-noncondensate mean collision times. We find in general quite good agreement with experiment, both for the frequencies and damping of the collective modes.
We show that spinor Bose-Einstein condensates not only have line-like vortex excitations, but in general also allow for point-like topological excitations, i.e., skyrmions. We discuss the static and dynamic properties of these skyrmions for spin-1/2 and ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose gases.
We consider a mixture of a single-component Bose gas and a two-component Fermi gas at temperatures where the Bose gas is almost fully condensed. In such a mixture, two fermionic atoms can interact with each other by exchanging a phonon that propagates through the Bose condensate. We calculate the interaction potential due to this mechanism and determine the effective s-wave scattering length for two fermions that interact, both directly by the interatomic potentials, as well as by the above mentioned exchange mechanism. We find that the effective scattering length is quite sensitive to changes in the condensate density and becomes strongly energy dependent. In addition, we consider the mechanical stability of these mixtures and also calculate the dispersion and the damping of the various collisionless collective modes of the gas.
In this course we give a selfcontained introduction to the quantum field theory for trapped atomic gases, using functional methods throughout. We consider both equilibrium and nonequilibrium phenomena. In the equilibrium case, we first derive the appropriate Hartree-Fock theory for the properties of the gas in the normal phase. We then turn our attention to the properties of the gas in the superfluid phase, and present a microscopic derivation of the Bogoliubov and Popov theories of Bose-Einstein condensation and the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity. The former are applicable to trapped bosonic gases such as rubidium, lithium, sodium and hydrogen, and the latter in particular to the fermionic isotope of atomic lithium. In the nonequilibrium case, we discuss various topics for which a field-theoretical approach is especially suited, because they involve physics that is not contained in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Examples are quantum kinetic theory, the growth and collapse of a Bose condensate, the phase dynamics of bosonic and fermionic superfluids, and the collisionless collective modes of a Bose gas below the critical temperature.
We consider scattering atoms from a fully Bose-Einstein condensed gas. If we take these atoms to be identical to those in the Bose-Einstein condensate, this scattering process is to a large extent analogous to Andreev reflection from the interface between a superconducting and a normal metal. We determine the scattering wave function both in the absence and the presence of a vortex. Our results show a qualitative difference between these two cases that can be understood as due to an Aharonov-Bohm effect. It leads to the possibility to experimentally detect and study vortices in this way.
We present a general framework in which we can accurately describe the non-equilibrium dynamics of trapped atomic gases. This is achieved by deriving a single Fokker-Planck equation for the gas. In this way we are able to discuss not only the dynamics of an interacting gas above and below the critical temperature at which the gas becomes superfluid, but also during the phase transition itself. The last topic cannot be studied on the basis of the usual mean-field theory and was the main motivation for our work. To show, however, that the Fokker-Planck equation is not only of interest for recent experiments on the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation, we also indicate how it can, for instance, be applied to the study of the collective modes of a condensed Bose gas.
We review and extend the theory of the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation in weakly interacting atomic gases. We present in a unified way both the semiclassical theory as well as the full quantum theory. This is achieved by deriving a Fokker-Planck equation that incorporates both the coherent and incoherent effects of the interactions in a dilute Bose gas. In first instance we focus our attention on the nonequilibrium dynamics of a homogeneous Bose gas with a positive interatomic scattering length. After that we discuss how our results can be generalized to the inhomogeneous situation that exists in the present experiments with magnetically trapped alkali gases, and how we can deal with a negative interatomic scattering length in that case as well. We also show how to arrive at a discription of the collective modes of the gas that obeys the Kohn theorem at all temperatures. The theory is based on the many-body T-matrix approximation throughout, since this approximation has the correct physical behavior near the critical temperature and also treats the coherent and incoherent processes taking place in the gas on an equal footing.
We present an overview of the various phase transitions that we anticipate to occur in trapped fermionic alkali gases. We also discuss the prospects of observing these transitions in (doubly) spin-polarized Li-6 and K-40 gases, which are now actively being studied by various experimental groups around the world.
We calculate the excitation frequencies of the m=0 monopole and m=2 quadrupole modes in the collisionless regime by solving a non-linear Schroedinger equation for the condensate, coupled to a collisionless Boltzmann equation for the quasiparticles. Since the dynamics of the noncondensate cloud is also taken into account, the theory satisfies the Kohn theorem. The spectrum turns out to be strongly temperature dependent and we compare our results with experiment.
We apply the closed time-path formalism to evaluate the dynamics of the BCS transition to the superfluid state in trapped atomic $^6$Li. We find that the Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution of the order parameter is, sufficiently close to the critical temperature, identical to the equation that describes the switching on of a single-mode laser.