arXiv subjects

N. Pavloff

Publications and source records attributed to N. Pavloff.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Quantum backreaction in an analog black hole

We extend the Gross-Pitaevskii equation to incorporate the effect of quantum fluctuations onto the flow of a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate. Applying this framework to an analog black hole in a quasi-one-dimensional, transonic flow, we investigate how acoustic Hawking radiation back-reacts on the background condensate. Our results point to the emergence of stationary density and velocity undulations in the supersonic region (analogous to the black hole interior) and enable to evaluate the change in upstream and downstream Mach numbers caused by Hawking radiation. These findings provide new insight into the interplay between quantum fluctuations and analog gravity in Bose-Einstein condensates.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Quantitative Analysis of Shock Wave Dynamics in a Fluid of Light

We report on the formation of a dispersive shock wave in a nonlinear optical medium. We monitor the evolution of the shock by tuning the incoming beam power. The experimental observations for the position and intensity of the solitonic edge of the shock, as well as the location of the nonlinear oscillations are well described by recent developments of Whitham modulation theory. Our work constitutes a detailed and accurate benchmark for this approach. It opens exciting possibilities to engineer specific configurations of optical shock wave for studying wave-mean flow interaction.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Dispersionless evolution of inviscid nonlinear pulses

We consider the one-dimensional dynamics of nonlinear non-dispersive waves. The problem can be mapped onto a linear one by means of the hodograph transform. We propose an approximate scheme for solving the corresponding Euler-Poisson equation which is valid for any kind of nonlinearity. The approach is exact for monoatomic classical gas and agrees very well with exact results and numerical simulations for other systems. We also provide a simple and accurate determination of the wave breaking time for typical initial conditions.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2020

Departing from thermality of analogue Hawking radiation in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the quantum fluctuations in a one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate realizing an analogous acoustic black hole. The taking into account of evanescent channels and of zero modes makes it possible to accurately reproduce recent experimental measurements of the density correlation function. We discuss the determination of Hawking temperature and show that in our model the analogous radiation presents some significant departure from thermality.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Wave breaking and formation of dispersive shock waves in a defocusing nonlinear optical material

We theoretically describe the quasi one-dimensional transverse spreading of a light pulse propagating in a nonlinear optical material in the presence of a uniform background light intensity. For short propagation distances the pulse can be described within a nondispersive approximation by means of Riemann's approach. For larger distances, wave breaking occurs, leading to the formation of dispersive shocks at both ends of the pulse. We describe this phenomenon within Whitham modulation theory, which yields an excellent agreement with numerical simulations. Our analytic approach makes it possible to extract the leading asymptotic behavior of the parameters of the shock.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2019

Short-distance propagation of nonlinear optical pulses

We theoretically describe the quasi one-dimensional transverse spreading of a light pulse propagating in a defocusing nonlinear optical material in the presence of a uniform background light intensity. For short propagation distances the pulse can be described within a nondispersive approximation by means of Riemann's approach. The theoretical results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2018

Long-time evolution of pulses in the Korteweg-de Vries equation in the absence of solitons revisited: Whitham method

We consider the long-time evolution of pulses in the Korteweg-de Vries equation theory for initial distributions which produce no soliton, but instead lead to the formation of a dispersive shock wave and of a rarefaction wave. An approach based on Whitham modulation theory makes it possible to obtain an analytic description of the structure and to describe its self-similar behavior near the soliton edge of the shock. The results are compared with numerical simulations.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2018

Momentum correlations as signature of sonic Hawking radiation in Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the two-body momentum correlation signal in a quasi one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a sonic horizon. We identify the relevant correlation lines in momentum space and compute the intensity of the corresponding signal. We consider a set of different experimental procedures and identify the specific issues of each measuring process. We show that some inter-channel correlations, in particular the Hawking quantum-partner one, are particularly well adapted for witnessing quantum non-separability, being resilient to the effects of temperature and/or quantum quenches.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Solution of the Riemann problem for polarization waves in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

We provide a classification of the possible flow of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates evolving from initially discontinuous profiles. We consider the situation where the dynamics can be reduced to the consideration of a single polarization mode (also denoted as "magnetic excitation") obeying a system of equations equivalent to the Landau-Lifshitz equation for an easy-plane ferro-magnet. We present the full set of one-phase periodic solutions. The corresponding Whitham modulation equations are obtained together with formulas connecting their solutions with the Riemann invariants of the modulation equations. The problem is not genuinely nonlinear, and this results in a non-single-valued mapping of the solutions of the Whitham equations with physical wave patterns as well as to the appearance of new elements --- contact dispersive shock waves --- that are absent in more standard, genuinely nonlinear situations. Our analytic results are confirmed by numerical simulations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Evolution of initial discontinuities in the Riemann problem for the Kaup-Boussinesq equation with positive dispersion

We consider the space-time evolution of initial discontinuities of depth and flow velocity for an integrable version of the shallow water Boussinesq system introduced by Kaup. We focus on a specific version of this "Kaup-Boussinesq model" for which a flat water surface is modulationally stable, we speak below of "positive dispersion" model. This model also appears as an approximation to the equations governing the dynamics of polarisation waves in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates. We describe its periodic solutions and the corresponding Whitham modulation equations. The self-similar, one-phase wave structures are composed of different building blocks which are studied in detail. This makes it possible to establish a classification of all the possible wave configurations evolving from initial discontinuities. The analytic results are confirmed by numerical simulations.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2016

Dispersive hydrodynamics of nonlinear polarization waves in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

We study one dimensional mixtures of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in the limit where the intra-species and inter-species interaction constants are very close. Near the mixing-demixing transition the polarization and the density dynamics decouple. We study the nonlinear polarization waves, show that they obey a universal (i.e., parameter free) dynamical description, identify a new type of algebraic soliton, explicitly write simple wave solutions, and study the Gurevich-Pitaevskii problem in this context.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Nonlinear waves in coherently coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

We consider a quasi-one-dimensional two-component Bose-Einstein condensate subject to a coherent coupling between its components, such as realized in spin-orbit coupled condensates. We study how nonlinearity modifies the dynamics of the elementary excitations. The spectrum has two branches which are affected in different ways. The upper branch experiences a modulational instability which is stabilized by a long wave-short wave resonance with the lower branch. The lower branch is stable. In the limit of weak nonlinearity and small dispersion it is described by a Korteweg-de Vries equation or by the Gardner equation, depending on the value of the parameters of the system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Quantum signature of analog Hawking radiation in momentum space

We consider a sonic analog of a black hole realized in the one-dimensional flow of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that one- and two-body momentum distributions accessible by present-day experimental techniques provide clear direct evidence (i) of the occurrence of a sonic horizon, (ii) of the associated acoustic Hawking radiation and (iii) of the quantum nature of the Hawking process. The signature of the quantum behavior persists even at temperatures larger than the chemical potential.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Interference effects in the two-dimensional scattering of microcavity polaritons by an obstacle: phase dislocations and resonances

We consider interference effects within the linear description of the scattering of two-dimensional microcavity polaritons by an obstacle. The polariton wave may exhibit phase dislocations created by the interference of the incident and the scattered fields. We describe these structures within the general framework of singular optics. We also discuss another type of interference effects appearing due to the formation of (quasi)resonances in the potential of a repulsive obstacle with sharp boundaries. We discuss the relevance of our approach for the description of recent experimental results and propose a criterion for evaluating the importance of nonlinear effects.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Comment on "Linear wave dynamics explains observations attributed to dark-solitons in a polariton quantum fluid"

In a recent preprint (arXiv:1401.1128v1) Cilibrizzi and co-workers report experiments and simulations showing the scattering of polaritons against a localised obstacle in a semiconductor microcavity. The authors observe in the linear excitation regime the formation of density and phase patterns reminiscent of those expected in the non-linear regime from the nucleation of dark solitons. Based on this observation, they conclude that previous theoretical and experimental reports on dark solitons in a polariton system should be revised. Here we comment why the results from Cilibrizzi et al. take place in a very different regime than previous investigations on dark soliton nucleation and do not reproduce all the signatures of its rich nonlinear phenomenology. First of all, Cilibrizzi et al. consider a particular type of radial excitation that strongly determines the observed patterns, while in previous reports the excitation has a plane-wave profile. Most importantly, the nonlinear relation between phase jump, soliton width and fluid velocity, and the existence of a critical velocity with the time-dependent formation of vortex-antivortex pairs are absent in the linear regime. In previous reports about dark soliton and half-dark soliton nucleation in a polariton fluid, the distinctive dark soliton physics is supported both by theory (analytical and numerical) and experiments (both continuous wave and pulsed excitation).

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Hawking radiation in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

We consider a simple realization of an event horizon in the flow of a one-dimensional two-component Bose-Einstein condensate. Such a condensate has two types of quasiparticles; In the system we study, one corresponds to density fluctuations and the other to polarization fluctuations. We treat the case where a horizon occurs only for one type of quasiparticles (the polarization ones). We study the one- and two-body signal associated to the analog of spontaneous Hawking radiation and demonstrate by explicit computation that it consists only in the emission of polarization waves. We discuss the experimental consequences of the present results in the domain of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and also for the physics of exciton-polaritons in semiconductor microcavities.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Polarization hydrodynamics in a one-dimensional polariton condensate

We study the hydrodynamics of a nonresonantly-pumped polariton condensate in a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire taking into account the spin degree of freedom. We clarify the relevance of the Landau criterion for superfluidity in this dissipative two-component system. Two Cherenkov-like critical velocities are identified corresponding to the opening of different channels of radiation: one of (damped) density fluctuations and another of (weakly damped) polarization fluctuations. We determine the drag force exerted onto an external obstacle and propose experimentally measurable consequences of the specific features of the fluctuations of polarization.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Nonlinear waves of polarization in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

Waves with different symmetries exist in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) whose dynamics is described by a system of coupled Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equations. A first type of waves corresponds to excitations for which the motion of both components is locally in phase. In the second type of waves the two components have a counter-phase local motion. In the case of different values of inter- and intra-component interaction constants, the long wave-length behavior of these two modes corresponds to two types of sound with different velocities. In the limit of weak nonlinearity and small dispersion the first mode is described by the well-known Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. We show that in the same limit the second mode can be described by the Gardner (modified KdV) equation, if the intra-component interaction constants have close enough values. This leads to a rich phenomenology of nonlinear excitations (solitons, kinks, algebraic solitons, breathers) which does not exist in the KdV description.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗