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arXiv:0801.2758 · Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Semiclassical theory of the quasi–two-dimensional trapped Bose gas

Markus Holzmann, Maguelonne Chevallier, Werner Krauth

Published Apr 16, 2008• 46 citations
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Abstract

We discuss the quasi–two-dimensional trapped Bose gas where the thermal occupation of excited states in the tightly confined direction is small but remains finite in the thermodynamic limit. We show that the semiclassical theory describes very accurately the density profile obtained by quantum Monte Carlo calculations in the normal phase above the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature T KT , but differs strongly from the predictions of strictly two-dimensional mean-field theory, even at relatively high temperature. We discuss the relevance of our findings for analyzing ultra-cold–atom experiments in quasi–two-dimensional traps.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/82/30001

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•Jan 1, 2004•0 citations
We discuss the quasi–two-dimensional trapped Bose gas where the thermal occupation of excited states in the tightly confined direction is small but remains finite in the thermodynamic limit. We show that the semiclassical theory describes very accurately the density profile obtained by quantum Monte Carlo calculations in the normal phase above the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature T KT , but differs strongly from the predictions of strictly two-dimensional mean-field theory, even at relatively high temperature. We discuss the relevance of our findings for analyzing ultra-cold–atom experiments in quasi–two-dimensional traps.
We use quantum Monte Carlo methods to compute the density profile, the nonclassical moment of inertia, and the condensate fraction of an interacting quasi-two-dimensional trapped Bose gas with up to N ~ 5 x 10(5) atoms and parameters closely related to recent experiments. We locate the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature T(KT) and discuss intrinsic signatures of the onset of superfluidity in the density profile. Below T(KT), the condensate fraction is macroscopic even for our largest systems and decays only slowly with system size. We show that the thermal population of excited states in the transverse direction changes the two-dimensional density profile noticeably in both the normal and the superfluid phase.
We analyze the results of a recent experiment with bosonic rubidium atoms harmonically confined in a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) geometry. In this experiment a well-defined critical point was identified, which separates the high-temperature normal state characterized by a single component density distribution, and the low-temperature state characterized by a bimodal density distribution and the emergence of high-contrast interference between independent 2D clouds. We first show that this transition cannot be explained in terms of conventional Bose–Einstein condensation of the trapped ideal Bose gas. Using the local density approximation (LDA), we then combine the mean-field (MF) Hartree–Fock theory with the prediction for the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition in an infinite uniform system. If the gas is treated as a strictly 2D system, the MF predictions for the spatial density profiles significantly deviate from those of a recent quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) analysis. However, when the residual thermal excitation of the strongly confined degree of freedom is taken into account, excellent agreement is reached between the MF and the QMC approaches. For the interaction strength corresponding to the experiment, we predict a strong correction to the critical atom number with respect to the ideal gas theory (factor ∼2). Quantitative agreement between theory and experiment is reached concerning the critical atom number if the predicted density profiles are used for temperature calibration.
We investigate the accuracy of two mean-field theories of the trapped two-dimensional Bose gas at predicting transition region properties by comparison to nonperturbative classical field calculations. To make these comparisons we examine the density profiles and the predictions for the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless superfluid transition temperature over a parameter range in which the degree of thermal activation in the tightly trapped direction varies considerably. These results present an important test of these mean-field theories and provide a characterization of their typical accuracy.
We study the quasi-two-dimensional Bose gas in harmonic traps at temperatures above the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, where the gas is in the normal phase. We show that mean-field theory takes into account the dominant interaction effects for experimentally relevant trap geometries. Comparing with quantum Monte Carlo calculations, we quantify the onset of the fluctuation regime, where correlations beyond mean-field become important. Although the density profile depends on the microscopic parameters of the system, we show that the correlation density (the difference between the exact and the mean-field density) is accurately described by a universal expression, obtained from classical-field calculations of the homogeneous strictly two-dimensional gas. Deviations from universality, due to the finite value of the interaction or to the trap geometry, are shown to be small for current experiments. We further study coherence and pair correlations on a microscopic scale. Finite-size effects in the off-diagonal density matrix allow us to characterize the crossover from Kosterlitz-Thouless to Bose-Einstein behavior for small particle numbers. Bose-Einstein condensation occurs below a characteristic number of particles which rapidly diverges with vanishing interactions.
Using the finite-temperature path integral Monte Carlo method, we investigate dilute, trapped Bose gases in a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) geometry. The quantum particles have short-range, sss-wave interactions described by a hard-sphere potential whose core radius equals its corresponding scattering length. The effect of both the temperature and the interparticle interaction on the equilibrium properties such as the total energy, the density profile, and the superfluid fraction is discussed. We compare our accurate results with both the semiclassical approximation and the exact results of an ideal Bose gas. Our results show that for repulsive interactions (i) the minimum value of the aspect ratio, where the system starts to behave quasi-2D, increases as the two-body interaction strength increases; (ii) the superfluid fraction for a quasi-two-dimensionally Bose gas is distinctly different from that for both a quasi-1D Bose gas and a true 3D system, i.e., the superfluid fraction for a quasi-2D Bose gas decreases faster than that for a quasi-1D system and a true 3D system with increasing temperature, and shows a stronger dependence on the interaction strength; (iii) the superfluid fraction for a quasi-2D Bose gas lies well below the values calculated from the semiclassical approximation; and (iv) the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature decreases as the strength of the interaction increases.
The fact that two-dimensional interacting trapped systems do not undergo Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in the thermodynamic limit, though rigorously proved, is somewhat mysterious because all relevant limiting cases (zero temperature, small atom numbers, noninteracting particles) suggest otherwise. We study the possibility of condensation in finite trapped two-dimensional systems. We first consider the ideal gas, which incorporates the inhomogeneity and finite size of experimental systems and can be solved exactly. A semiclassical self-consistent approximation gives us a feel for the temperature scales; diagonalization of the one-body density matrix confirms that the condensation is into a single state. We squeeze a three-dimensional system and see how it crosses over into two dimensions. Mean-field theory, our main tool for the study of interacting systems, prescribes coupled equations for the condensate and the thermal cloud: the condensate receives a full quantum-mechanical treatment, while the noncondensate is described by different schemes of varying sophistication. We analyze the T = 0 case and its approach to the thermodynamic limit, finding a criterion for the dimensionality crossover and obtaining the coupling constant of the two-dimensional system that results from squeezing a three-dimensional trap. We next apply a semiclassical Hartree-Fock approximation to purely two-dimensional finite gases and find that they can be described either with or without a condensate; this continues to be true in the thermodynamic limit. The condensed solutions have a lower free energy at all temperatures but neglect the presence of phonons within the system and cease to exist when we allow for this possibility. The uncondensed solutions, in turn, are valid under a more rigorous scheme but have consistency problems of their own. Path-integral Monte Carlo simulations provide an essentially exact description of finite interacting gases and enable us to study highly anisotropic systems at finite temperature. We find that our two-dimensional Hartree-Fock solutions accurately mimic the surface density profile and predict the condensate fraction of these systems; the equivalent interaction parameter is smaller than that dictated by the T = 0 analysis. We conclude that, in two-dimensional isotropic finite trapped systems and in highly compressed three-dimensional gases, there is a phenomenon resembling a condensation into a single state.