The concept of contact interaction is fundamental in various areas of physics. It simplifies physical models by replacing the detailed short-range interaction with a zero-range contact potential that reproduces the same low-energy scattering parameter, i.e., the s-wave scattering length. In this Letter, we generalize this concept to open quantum systems with short-range two-body losses. We show that the short-range two-body losses can be effectively described by a complex scattering length. However, in contrast to closed systems, the dynamics of an open quantum system is governed by the Lindblad master equation the includes a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian as well as an extra recycling term. We thus develop proper methods to regularize both terms in the master equation in the contact (zero-range) limit. We then apply our regularized complex contact interaction to study the dynamic problem of a weakly interacting and dissipating Bose-Einstein condensate. It is found that the physics is greatly enriched because the scattering length is continued from the real axis to the complex plane. For example, we show that a strong dissipation may prevent an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate from collapsing. We further calculate the particle decay in this system to the order of (density)^{3/2} which resembles the celebrated Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the ground state energy of interacting Bose gases [Lee and Yang, Phys. Rev. 105, 1119 (1957)PHRVAO0031-899X10.1103/PhysRev.105.1119; Lee, Huang, and Yang, Phys. Rev. 106, 1135 (1957)PHRVAO0031-899X10.1103/PhysRev.106.1135]. Possible methods for tuning the complex scattering length in cold atomic gas experiments are also discussed.
The concept of contact interaction is fundamental in various areas of physics. It simplifies physical models by replacing the detailed short-range interaction with a zero-range contact potential that reproduces the same low-energy scattering parameter, i.e., the s-wave scattering length. In this Letter, we generalize this concept to open quantum systems with short-range two-body losses. We show that the short-range two-body losses can be effectively described by a complex scattering length. However, in contrast to closed systems, the dynamics of an open quantum system is governed by the Lindblad master equation the includes a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian as well as an extra recycling term. We thus develop proper methods to regularize both terms in the master equation in the contact (zero-range) limit. We then apply our regularized complex contact interaction to study the dynamic problem of a weakly interacting and dissipating Bose-Einstein condensate. It is found that the physics is greatly enriched because the scattering length is continued from the real axis to the complex plane. For example, we show that a strong dissipation may prevent an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate from collapsing. We further calculate the particle decay in this system to the order of (density)^{3/2} which resembles the celebrated Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the ground state energy of interacting Bose gases [Lee and Yang, Phys. Rev. 105, 1119 (1957)PHRVAO0031-899X10.1103/PhysRev.105.1119; Lee, Huang, and Yang, Phys. Rev. 106, 1135 (1957)PHRVAO0031-899X10.1103/PhysRev.106.1135]. Possible methods for tuning the complex scattering length in cold atomic gas experiments are also discussed.
We study the many-body dynamics of weakly interacting Bose gases with two-particle losses. We show that both the two-body interactions and losses in atomic gases may be tuned by controlling the inelastic scattering process between atoms by an optical Feshbach resonance. Interestingly, the low-energy behavior of the scattering amplitude is governed by a single parameter, i.e. the complex s s -wave scattering length a_c a c . The many-body dynamics are thus described by a Lindblad master equation with complex scattering length. We solve this equation by applying the Bogoliubov approximation in analogy to the closed systems. Various peculiar dynamical properties are discovered, some of them may be regarded as the dissipative counterparts of the celebrated results in closed Bose gases. For example, we show that the next-order correction to the mean-field particle decay rate is to the order of |n a_c^{3}|^{1/2} | n a c 3 | 1 / 2 , which is an analogy of the Lee-Huang-Yang correction of Bose gases. It is also found that there exists a dynamical symmetry of symplectic group Sp (4,\mathbb{C}) ( 4 , ℂ ) in the quadratic Bogoliubov master equation, which is an analogy of the SU(1,1) dynamical symmetry of the corresponding closed system. We further confirmed the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation by comparing its results with a full numerical calculation in a double-well toy model. Generalizations of other alternative approaches such as the dissipative version of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and hydrodynamic theory are also discussed in the last.
1. Highlight “short-ranged,” “dilute,” and “low-energy” as three main features of interactions between ultracold atoms. 2. Introduce the important concept of the phase shift. 3. Introduce the s-wave scattering length as a universal parameter describing the low-energy interaction between ultracold atoms. 4. Discuss the relation between divergent scattering length, low-energy bound state, and jump of phase shift. 5. Discuss the relation between the scattering length and the scattering amplitude. 6. Discuss under what condition a positive scattering length describes repulsive interaction. 7. Discuss the condition when an algebraically decayed potential can be treated as a finite range one. 8. Introduce two types of zero-range single-channel potentials to capture the universal low-energy s-wave interaction between ultracold atoms. 9. Introduce the concept of renormalization condition and renormalizable theory. 10. Discuss how the spin rotational symmetry imposes constraints on interaction form for both alkali-metal and alkaline-earth-metal atoms. 11. Introduce Feshbach resonance as an important tool to tune scattering length. 12. Compare the two-channel Feshbach resonance with the single-channel shape resonance and compare the wide and the narrow resonances. 13. Introduce a zero-range two-channel model. 14. Introduce the confinement-induced resonance to tune interaction strength by an external potential. 15. Summarize three key conditions for a Feshbach resonance, and unify the optical Feshbach resonance, the orbital Feshbach resonance, and the confinement-induced resonance all in terms of these three conditions. 16. Introduce the Efimov effect as an important three-body effect at the vicinity of the two-body scattering resonance. 17. Highlight the symmetry aspect of the Efimov effect. 18. Discuss various connections between few-body and many-body physics. 19. Illustrate that few-body calculation can be used to determine properties of many-body systems by using high-temperature expansion as an example.
We consider the resonant Fermi gas, that is, two-component fermions in three dimensions interacting by a short-range potential of large scattering length. We introduce a quantity, the three-body contact, that determines several observables. Within the zero-range model, the number of nearby fermion triplets, the large-momentum tail of the center-of-mass momentum distribution of nearby fermion pairs, as well as the large-momentum tail of the two-particle momentum distribution, are expressed in terms of the three-body contact. For a small finite interaction range, the formation rate of deeply bound dimers by three-body recombination, as well as the three-body contribution to the finite-range correction to the energy, are expressed in terms of the three-body contact and of a three-body parameter. This three-body parameter, which vanishes in the zero-range limit, is defined through the asymptotic behavior of the zero-energy scattering state at distances intermediate between the range and the two-body scattering length. In general, the three-body contact has different contributions labeled by spin and angular momentum indices, and the three-body parameter can depend on those indices. We also include the generalization to unequal masses for ↑ and ↓ particles. With respect to the relation between three-body loss rate and number of nearby triplets stated in [Petrov, Salomon and Shlyapnikov, PRL 93 , 090404 (2004)], the present work adds a derivation, expresses the proportionality factor in terms of the three-body parameter, and includes the general case where there are several contributions to the three-body contact and several three-body parameters.
We consider the resonant Fermi gas, that is, two-component fermions in three dimensions interacting by a short-range potential of large scattering length. We introduce a quantity, the three-body contact, that determines several observables. Within the zero-range model, the number of nearby fermion triplets, the large-momentum tail of the center-of-mass momentum distribution of nearby fermion pairs, as well as the large-momentum tail of the two-particle momentum distribution, are expressed in terms of the three-body contact. For a small finite interaction range, the formation rate of deeply bound dimers by three-body recombination, as well as the three-body contribution to the finite-range correction to the energy, are expressed in terms of the three-body contact and of a three-body parameter. This three-body parameter, which vanishes in the zero-range limit, is defined through the asymptotic behavior of the zero-energy scattering state at distances intermediate between the range and the two-body scattering length. In general, the three-body contact has different contributions labeled by spin and angular momentum indices, and the three-body parameter can depend on those indices. We also include the generalization to unequal masses for ↑ and ↓ particles. With respect to the relation between three-body loss rate and number of nearby triplets stated in [Petrov, Salomon and Shlyapnikov, PRL 93, 090404 (2004)], the present work adds a derivation, expresses the proportionality factor in terms of the three-body parameter, and includes the general case where there are several contributions to the three-body contact and several three-body parameters.
The low-energy scattering of three bosons or distinguishable particles with short-range interactions is characterized by a fundamental parameter, the three-body scattering hypervolume, which is responsible for the nonuniversal effects in dilute Bose-Einstein condensates. We derive an analytical formula of the three-body scattering hypervolumes for weak interactions. When the interaction supports two-body bound states, the three-body scattering hypervolume gains a negative imaginary part, which is directly related to the rate constant for three-body recombinations. We develop a numerical method to calculate the three-body scattering hypervolumes for some model potentials with variable strengths. For real atoms with van der Waals potential, the three-body scattering hypervolumes are much harder to compute, because the three-body wave function is highly oscillatory at smaller inter-atomic distances. However, they may be extractable from precision data such as the collective-mode frequencies of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. In many numerical simulations, the system being simulated is put into a large but finite volume, such as a large periodic box of size L. To extract the low-energy scattering properties of two particles in infinite space from such simulations, L\\"uscher's formula must be used. In the second part of this thesis, we generalize L\\"uscher's formula to d spatial dimensions. We obtain its s-wave and p-wave approximations and the systematic expansions of the energies of the low-lying states. At a s-wave resonance in dge4 dimensions, we identify two low-lying states close to the threshold with nearly opposite energies, Esimpm1/Ld/2 when dge5, or Esimpm1/L2sqrtlnL when d=4. These calculations provide important insights to the physics of three particles at a three-body resonance in finite volumes in two or three dimensions. Three-body resonances are important phenomena not yet completely explored in the experiments on cold atoms.
We derive exact general relations between various observables for N bosons with zero-range interactions, in two or three dimensions, in an arbitrary external potential. Some of our results are analogous to relations derived previously for two-component fermions and involve derivatives of the energy with respect to the two-body s-wave scattering length a. Moreover, in the three-dimensional case, where the Efimov effect takes place, the interactions are characterized not only by a, but also by a three-body parameter Rt. We then find additional relations which involve the derivative of the energy with respect to Rt. In short, this derivative gives the probability of finding three particles close to each other. Although it is evaluated for a totally lossless model, it also gives the three-body loss rate always present in experiments (due to three-body recombination to deeply bound diatomic molecules), at least in the limit where the so-called inelasticity parameter $\ensuremath{\eta}$ is small enough. As an application, we obtain, within the zero-range model and to first order in $\ensuremath{\eta}$, an analytic expression for the three-body loss rate constant for a nondegenerate Bose gas at thermal equilibrium with infinite scattering length. We also discuss the generalization to arbitrary mixtures of bosons and/or fermions.