arXiv:1407.1217 · New Journal of Physics
Trojan quasiparticles
Bettina Gertjerenken, Martin Holthaus
Abstract
We argue that a time-periodically driven bosonic Josephson junction supports stable, quasiparticle-like collective response modes which are N -particle analogs of the nonspreading Trojan wave packets known from microwave-driven Rydberg atoms. Similar to their single-particle counterparts, these collective modes, dubbed 'flotons', are well described by a Floquet–Mathieu approximation, and possess a well-defined discrete set of excitations. In contrast to other, 'chaotic' modes of response, the nonheating Trojan modes conform to a mean-field description, and thus may be of particular interest for the more general question under which conditions the reduction of quantum N -particle dynamics to a strongly simplified mean-field evolution is feasible. Our reasoning is supported by phase-space portraits which reveal the degree of correspondence beween the N -particle dynamics und the mean-field picture in an intuitive manner.