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arXiv:1105.4651 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Comparative study of quantum dynamics of a few bosons in a one-dimensional split hard-wall trap: exact results versus Bose–Hubbard-model approximations

Hongli Guo, Xiangguo Yin, Shu Chen

Published Aug 30, 2011• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the dynamical properties of a few bosons confined in an one-dimensional split hard wall trap with the interaction strength varying from the weakly to strongly repulsive regime. The system is initially prepared in one side of the double well by setting the barrier strength of the split trap to be infinity and then the barrier strength is suddenly changed to a finite value. Both exact diagonalization method and Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) approximation are used to study the dynamical evolution of the initial system. The exact results based on exact diagonaliztion verify the enhancement of correlated tunneling in the strongly interacting regime. Comparing results obtained by two different methods, we conclude that one-band BHM approximation can well describe the dynamics in the weakly interacting regime, but is not efficient to give quantitatively consistent results in the strongly interacting regime. Despite of the quantitative discrepancy, we validate that the form of correlated tunneling gives an important contribution to tunneling in the large interaction regime. To get a quantitative description for the dynamics of bosons in the strongly interacting regime, we find that a multi-band BHM approximation is necessary.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/44/19/195002

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We study the dynamical properties of a few bosons confined in an one-dimensional split hard wall trap with the interaction strength varying from the weakly to strongly repulsive regime. The system is initially prepared in one side of the double well by setting the barrier strength of the split trap to be infinity and then the barrier strength is suddenly changed to a finite value. Both exact diagonalization method and Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) approximation are used to study the dynamical evolution of the initial system. The exact results based on exact diagonaliztion verify the enhancement of correlated tunneling in the strongly interacting regime. Comparing results obtained by two different methods, we conclude that one-band BHM approximation can well describe the dynamics in the weakly interacting regime, but is not efficient to give quantitatively consistent results in the strongly interacting regime. Despite of the quantitative discrepancy, we validate that the form of correlated tunneling gives an important contribution to tunneling in the large interaction regime. To get a quantitative description for the dynamics of bosons in the strongly interacting regime, we find that a multi-band BHM approximation is necessary.
Understanding how coherent quantum dynamics give way to correlation-dominated behavior in low-dimensional systems remains a central challenge in quantum many-body physics. Here, we investigate a one-dimensional Bose-Josephson junction confined in a box trap using the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons (MCTDHB). By varying the interaction strength and initial population imbalance, we identify distinct dynamical regimes governed by the competition between coherence and correlation-induced fragmentation. Weak interactions support coherent Josephson oscillations, whereas increasing imbalance leads to damping. At intermediate interaction strength, varying only the initial imbalance induces a crossover from nearly pure coherent oscillations to many-body dephasing with collapse-and-revival dynamics, and ultimately to equilibration accompanied by strong fragmentation and the saturation of many-body observables. In the strongly interacting regime, the system enters a dynamical freezing regime characterized by pronounced fragmentation, well-separated particle-resolved density peaks, and strongly suppressed tunneling. A systematic comparison with the Bose-Hubbard model reveals excellent agreement in the weakly interacting regime, while progressively larger deviations emerge as higher-orbital occupations beyond the two-mode approximation become significant. These results provide a unified picture of the emergence and competition of coherence, many-body dephasing, equilibration, and dynamical freezing, while delineating the regime of validity of the Bose-Hubbard description.
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We carry out a detailed examination of the ground-state properties of a few-boson system in a one-dimensional hard-wall potential with a $\ensuremath{\delta}$ split in the center. In the Tonks-Girardeau limit with infinite repulsion between particles, we use the Bose-Fermi mapping to construct the exact NNN-particle ground-state wave function, which allows us to study the correlation properties accurately. For the general case with finite interparticle interaction, the exact diagonalization method is exploited to study the ground-state density distribution, occupation number distribution, and momentum distribution for variable interaction strengths and barrier heights. The secondary peaks in the momentum distribution reveal the interference between particles on the two sides of the split, which is more prominent for large barrier strength and small interaction strength.
In this thesis, the tunneling dynamics of a few boson system in a double-well is investigated from an ab-initio prospective using the numerically exact Multi-Configuration Time-Dependent Hartree method. We first study a system consisting of single species of bosons with a spatially modulated interaction. The main emphasis is on the role of inhomogeneity and its effect on the tunneling. The dynamics changes from Rabi oscillations in the non-interacting case to a highly suppressed tunneling for intermediate interaction strengths followed by a reappearance of tunneling near the fermionization limit. With extreme interaction inhomogeneity in the regime of strong correlations we observe tunneling between the higher bands. A richer behavior is found for systems with higher particle number. For systems with more than two bosons, the inhomogeneity of the interaction can be tuned to generate tunneling resonances. These observations are explained on the basis of the few-body spectrum and stationary eigenstates. A tilted double-well and its interplay with the interaction asymmetry is discussed next. We demonstrate that the effects of the interaction can be compensated by the tilt leading to tunneling resonances. We then explore tunneling dynamics of binary bosonic mixtures. The focus is on the role of the inter- and intra-species interactions and their interplay. The dynamics is studied for three initial configurations: complete and partial population imbalance and a phase separated state. Increasing the inter-species interaction leads to a strong increase of the tunneling time period analogous to the quantum self-trapping for condensates. The intra-species repulsion can suppress or enhance the tunneling period depending on the strength of the inter-species correlations as well as the initial configuration. Completely correlated tunneling between the two species and within the same species as well as mechanisms of species separation and counterflow are revealed. These effects are explained by studying the many-body energy spectra as well as the properties of the contributing stationary states.
This thesis studies the one-dimensional Bose gas in harmonic and double-well traps from a few-body perspective. The main emphasis is on the crossover from weak interactions to the fermionization limit of infinite repulsion, where the system maps to an ideal Fermi gas. To explore the structure as well as the quantum dynamics throughout that crossover, we both develop an exact-diagonalization approach and resort to a multi-configurational time-dependent method (MCTDH). The basic mechanism of the fermionization crossover for the ground state is shown to consist in the formation of a correlation hole in the two-body density, which culminates in a localization of the individual particles for strong repulsion. This is accompanied by a reduction of coherence. We demonstrate how the concrete pathway depends on the trap geometry, on the shape of the interaction, as well as on the atom number. By extension, we also investigate the lowest excitations, whose understanding is a base for studying the impact of the fermionization crossover on the tunneling dynamics in a double well. In symmetric wells, a pathway from single-particle to fragmented-pair tunneling shows up. By energetically offsetting the two wells, tunnel resonances become accessible, which may be used to extract single atoms.
We explore the tunneling dynamics of strongly correlated bosonic mixtures in a one-dimensional double well. The roles of the inter- and intraspecies interactions and their interplay are investigated using the numerically exact multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method. The dynamics is studied for three initial configurations: complete and partial population imbalance and a species-separated state. Increasing the interspecies interaction leads to a strong increase of the tunneling time period analogous to the quantum self-trapping for condensates. The intraspecies repulsion can suppress or enhance the tunneling period depending on the strength of the interspecies correlations as well as the initial configuration. Completely correlated tunneling between the two species and within the same species as well as mechanisms of species separation and counterflow are revealed. These effects are explained by studying the few-body energy spectra as well as the properties of the contributing stationary states.