The ab initio simulation of quantum vortices in a Bose-Einstein condensate is performed by adopting the complex Langevin techniques. We simulate the nonrelativistic boson field theory at finite chemical potential under rotation. In the superfluid phase, vortices are generated above a critical angular velocity and the circulation is clearly quantized even in the presence of quantum fluctuations.
The ab initio simulation of quantum vortices in a Bose-Einstein condensate is performed by adopting the complex Langevin techniques. We simulate the nonrelativistic boson field theory at finite chemical potential under rotation. In the superfluid phase, vortices are generated above a critical angular velocity and the circulation is clearly quantized even in the presence of quantum fluctuations.
In this thesis, we perform ab-initio lattice simulations of the nonrelativistic and relativistic Bose-Einstein condensates under strong external fields such as the electric field, the magnetic field, and the rotation.All the lattice actions discussed in this thesis are complex, so that the conventional Monte Carlo method su↵ers from the notorious sign problem.The path integral measure is complex due to the complex action, so that the important sampling algorithm cannot be applied.To overcome this di culty, we adopt the complex Langevin method, which has been developed in the context of finite density quantum chromodynamics to attack the fermion sign problem.In particular, we perform ab-initio simulation of the quantum vortex nucleation by the magnetic field or the rotation.In dilute and low temperature system, quantum and thermal fluctuations are negligible.The system can be remarkably well described by the mean field approximation.However, when quantum or thermal fluctuation becomes large, it is highly nontrivial how the quantized vortices behave.Around the critical values of temperature, chemical potential, magnetic field, or angular velocity, the fluctuation grows and the mean-field description inevitably breaks down.To understand the quantum vortex nucleation in such situations, the ab-initio simulation is necessary as discussed in this thesis.The direct evidence of the quantum vortex nucleation is the quantization of circulation.We show that the circulation is quantized in the superconducting (superfluid) phase far from the critical chemical potential, but it is not just above the critical chemical potential.We observe that the quantized circulation is blurred by the quantum fluctuation as the chemical potential is getting close to its critical value.In our simulation, the quantum fluctuation of vortex number is observed, while the averaged circulation is clearly quantized.At first glance, these two facts seem to be incompatible.However, we show that the fluctuation of vortex number behaves as Gaussian and, as a result of cancellation, the average circulation becomes exact integer.iii
The thermodynamic stability of quantized vortex patterns in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates is assessed at finite temperature using complex Langevin sampling. We construct a temperature-rotation frequency phase diagram and find that that vortices are stabilized at lower rotation speeds by the addition of quantum and thermal fluctuations. The coherent states field theoretic representation of the imaginary time path integral enables efficient simulation of large systems at finite temperature, and the complex Langevin simulation scheme bypasses the sign problems that arise from the complex-valued coherent states fields as well as the gauge potential describing solid body rotation. Field operators allow us to generate high-resolution images of particle and momentum density of the cloud. Quantized vortices appear as dark spots on density images, and vector plots of cloud momentum detail circulation around each vortex.
Bose-Einstein condensation, first predicted by Bose and Einstein in 1924, was finally realized in dilute, weakly interacting gases of alkali atoms in 1995. A few years later, quantized vortices - intimately related to the phenomenon of superfluidity - were created and observed in these novel quantum many-body systems.\n\nIn this Thesis, vortices in dilute atomic Bose-Einstein condensates are studied theoretically and computationally using microscopic mean-field theory formalisms. Special emphasis is on the structure and the stability of vortices at finite temperatures. The formation of quantized circulation in Bose-Einstein condensates is investigated, as well as multiply quantized vorticity and the adiabaticity of the precessing motion of a vortex.\n\nThis research strongly relies on numerically solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the macroscopic condensate wavefunction and the coupled Bogoliubov equations and their variants for the collective quasiparticle excitation eigenmodes. The computed elementary excitation spectra are used, for instance, in determining the local stability of various condensate states. The vortex formation process is studied at finite temperatures in terms of the surface modes of the condensate providing the Landau critical velocities for the breakdown of superfluidity. Free energy calculations are used for determining the thermodynamic equilibrium states.\n\nSingly quantized, axisymmetric vortex states are found to be locally energetically stable even in the zero-temperature limit within the self-consistent finite-temperature approximations. This would imply for the vortex a precession direction opposite to that observed in the experiment. Adiabatic approximation of quantum mechanics is formulated for Bose-Einstein condensed systems and is applied to a case of a moving vortex line. The experimentally observed precessing motion of the vortex is found to be nonadiabatic. A method to create stable multiply quantized vortices using an additional pinning potential is presented. The computed critical trap rotation frequencies for vortex nucleation at finite temperatures are in agreement with experiments and the predictions of zero-temperature field theories.
Since its realization in dilute bosonic atomic gases [], [], Bose-Einstein condensation of alkali atoms and hydrogen has been produced and studied extensively in the laboratory [], and has permitted an intriguing glimpse into the macroscopic quantum world. In view of potential applications [], [], [], the study of quantized vortices, which are well-known signatures of superfluidity, is one of the key issues. In fact, bulk superfluids are distinguished from normal fluids by their ability to support dissipationless flow. Such persistent currents are intimately related to the existence of quantized vortices, which are localized phase singularities with integer topological charge []. The superfluid vortex is an example of a topological defect that is well known in superconductors [] and in liquid helium []. The occurrence of quantized vortices in superfluids has been the focus of fundamental theoretical and experimental work []. Different research groups have obtained quantized vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) experimentally, e.g., the JILA group [], [], the ENS group [] and the MIT group [], []. Currently, there are at least two typical ways to generate quantized vortices from a BEC ground state: (i) impose a laser beam rotating with an angular velocity on the magnetic trap holding the atoms to create a harmonic anisotropic potential [], [], []; or (ii) add to the stationary magnetic trap a narrow, moving Gaussian potential, representing a far-blue detuned laser [], [], [], [], [], [].
Bose-Einstein condensation is a quantum statistical phase transition which was theoretically predicted almost a hundred years ago. After years of seminal research, physicists realized the first almost ideal Bose-Einstein condensates in ultracold dilute atomic gases in 1995. Since then, the theoretical and experimental methods concerning such systems have been developing rapidly, and many fascinating phenomena have been found in these novel quantum systems.\n\nBose-Einstein condensation occurs in a system consisting of massive bosons when a single quantum state becomes macroscopically occupied as the temperature is lowered below the transition temperature. In general, condensates consisting of repulsively interacting bosons exhibit superfluidity: Particle currents can flow in the system without dissipation and viscosity. Moreover, the velocity fields of condensates have to be irrotational, which severely restricts the rotational characteristics of these systems. Apart from the center of mass motion, the system may carry angular momentum in the form of elementary excitations or so-called quantized vortices.\n\nThis Thesis is a theoretical study of subjects related to stability and dynamics of quantized vortices in dilute atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. The precession and instability of off-centered vortices in trapped condensates is investigated both in the zero-temperature limit and at finite temperatures. Dynamical stability of multiply quantized vortices and vortex clusters is studied in axisymmetric trap geometries. Splitting of energetically and dynamically unstable multiply quantized vortices into singly quantized vortices is also studied. Finally, as a separate subject, tunneling of a condensate through a potential barrier is investigated. Majority of this work relies on numerical methods for solving the Gross-Pitaevskii and Bogoliubov equations, which are of central importance in the study of dilute atomic Bose-Einstein condensates.
We study the dynamics of a single vortex and a pair of vortices in quasi two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates at finite temperatures. To this end, we use the stochastic Gross--Pitaevskii equation, which is the Langevin equation for the Bose--Einstein condensate. For a pair of vortices, we study the dynamics of both the vortex-vortex and vortex-antivortex pairs, which are generated by rotating the trap and moving the Gaussian obstacle potential, respectively. Due to thermal fluctuations, the constituent vortices are not symmetrically generated with respect to each other at finite temperatures. This initial asymmetry coupled with the presence of random thermal fluctuations in the system can lead to different decay rates for the component vortices of the pair, especially in the case of two corotating vortices.