In trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, interaction quenches which are abrupt changes of the interaction strength typically implemented via Feshbach tuning, are a practical and widely used protocol to address far-from-equilibrium collective modes. Using both numerical Gross Pitaevskii and analytical schemes we study these interaction-quench-induced collective modes in a harmonically trapped two-dimensional Bose--Einstein condensate contrasting the behavior found at low and high energies. In the low-lying regime, we characterize realistic circumstances in which there is a breakdown of the expected scale invariance so that the collective excitations follow hydrodynamic theory instead of the predictions given by SO(2,1) conformal symmetry. In the high energy regime, we focus on important trap effects associated with acoustic oscillations which have been of interest experimentally. This comprehensive analysis of the collective excitations in trapped two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates is experimentally accessible. Through their frequencies and damping, this reflects an important built-in spectroscopy of such many-body states.
In trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, interaction quenches which are abrupt changes of the interaction strength typically implemented via Feshbach tuning, are a practical and widely used protocol to address far-from-equilibrium collective modes. Using both numerical Gross Pitaevskii and analytical schemes we study these interaction-quench-induced collective modes in a harmonically trapped two-dimensional Bose--Einstein condensate contrasting the behavior found at low and high energies. In the low-lying regime, we characterize realistic circumstances in which there is a breakdown of the expected scale invariance so that the collective excitations follow hydrodynamic theory instead of the predictions given by SO(2,1) conformal symmetry. In the high energy regime, we focus on important trap effects associated with acoustic oscillations which have been of interest experimentally. This comprehensive analysis of the collective excitations in trapped two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates is experimentally accessible. Through their frequencies and damping, this reflects an important built-in spectroscopy of such many-body states.
Bose–Einstein condensation represents a quintessential manifestation of quantum mechanics at macroscopic scales, where a dilute gas of bosonic atoms undergoes a phase transition to form a coherent matter wave. This study presents a comprehensive theoretical investigation of collective excitations and critical phenomena in interacting Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs). Beginning with the Gross–Pitaevskii equation , we develop the Bogoliubov theory of excitations yielding the spectrum , where is the free-particle energy and characterizes contact interactions. The spectrum reveals phonon behavior at low momenta with sound velocity , transitioning to free-particle dispersion at momenta exceeding the inverse healing length . Collective modes in harmonically trapped condensates are analyzed in the Thomas–Fermi regime, yielding breathing mode frequency and quadrupole frequency . Damping mechanisms including Landau damping ( ) and Beliaev damping ( ) are characterized. The Lee–Huang–Yang correction extends the equation of state beyond mean field. Critical phenomena near are analyzed within the 3D XY universality class, with critical exponents , , and the interaction-induced shift with . All predictions show excellent agreement with experimental measurements on ultracold atomic gases.
The experimental discovery of dilute ultracold quantum gases in 1995 has instigated a broad interest in ultracold atoms and molecules, and paved the way for extensive studies of a wide range of both experimental and theoretical topics. Various theories were developed to describe Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) for different ranges of temperature and interaction strengths. This thesis focuses on studying the mean-field theory of the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation which provides a good description for the macroscopic wave function when both quantum and thermal fluctuations are negligible. This means that the range of validity is restricted to small interaction strengths at zero temperature. Within the GP theory we study analytically and numerically the nonlinear dynamics of BECs which are induced by a harmonic modulation of either the interaction strength or the harmonic trapping potential. At first a detailed numerical investigation reveals that solving the partial differential equation of Gross and Pitaevskii can be reduced to solving ordinary differential equations for the condensate widths within a Gaussian variational approach. Despite this tremendous simplification the prominent nonlinearity of the underlying GP equation is inherited by the variational equations, which thus allow to describe a rich variety of nonlinear phenomena in different experimental setups. In order to describe them analytically we transfer the Poincar\'e-Lindstedt method, which represents a well-established tool in the field of nonlinear dynamics, to the Gaussian variational approach. Modulation of some of the parameters of a BEC can give rise to prominent nonlinear features, such as shifts in the frequencies of collective oscillation modes, higher harmonics generation, and resonant mode coupling. As a first application we consider a recent Bose-Einstein condensate of Li-7, which has been excited experimentally by a harmonic modulation of the atomic s-wave scattering length with the help of a Feshbach resonance. Combining an analytical perturbative approach with extensive numerical simulations, we analyze the emerging nonlinear dynamics. In particular, we present the resulting shift of collective excitation spectra close to parametric resonances where the driving frequency coincides with a collective mode frequency. Another application of experimental importance is to study geometric resonances in BECs with two-body and three-body contact interactions, where changing the geometry of the trapping potential leads to commensurate collective excitation frequencies with emerging nonlinear effects such as frequency shifts and resonant mode coupling. In this context we also show that a small repulsive three-body interaction is able to extend the stability region of the condensate for an attractive two-body interaction as it increases the critical number of atoms in the trap. Apart from a periodic modulation of a system parameter the dipole mode frequency can be excited by introducing an abrupt change in the potential, where the center of mass oscillates according to the Kohn theorem back and forth in the trapping potential with the natural trap frequency irrespective of both the strength and the type of the two-particle interaction. To this end, we study the collective excitation modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic Ioffe- Pritchard in the vicinity of a Feshbach resonance for experimentally realistic parameters of a Rb-85 BEC, where the dipole mode is excited in z-direction. A linearization of the underlying equations of motions shows that the dipole mode frequency decreases when the bias magnetic field approaches the Feshbach resonance, so the Kohn theorem is violated. Finally within a variational approach we discuss the physical properties of a BEC in an axially-symmetric harmonic trap with a single vortex in the center. At first we analyze the equilibrium configuration and determine the vortex size as well as the Thomas- Fermi radii of the condensate in the Thomas-Fermi limit. Then we calculate the critical rotation frequency for the emergence of the vortex and compare our findings with the literature. Finally, we investigate how the presence of the vortex changes the collective excitation frequencies and we discuss the free expansion of the BEC. All these results indicate how nonlinear dynamics properties could be made clearly observable in future experiments on the basis of our results.
We studied the collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with spin-orbit coupling. We developed the hydrodynamic equations for spin-orbit coupled BECs and used them to study collective modes in the plane-wave phase and large Rabi coupling regime for both a uniform BEC and a BEC in a harmonic trap. In the homogeneous situation, we obtained energy spectra of elementary excitations and found that the spin-orbit coupling can increase the effective mass of the atoms, which will suppress the sound velocity. The spin-orbit coupling can also change the spin mixing, which will modify the interaction energy, and may lead to an enhancement of sound velocity. The competition between these two effects gives the behavior of sound velocity. In a harmonic trap, we found that the dipole mode and the breathing mode are coupled together in the plane-wave phase, and these two modes have a $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ phase difference, because the spin-orbit coupling and the interaction are not invariant under spin rotation. However, in the large Rabi coupling regime, the dipole mode and the breathing mode are decoupled due to the symmetry restriction.
We analytically and numerically study nonlinear dynamics in Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) induced either by a harmonic modulation of the interaction or by the geometry of the trapping potential. To analytically describe BEC dynamics, we use a perturbative expansion based on the Poincaré–Lindstedt analysis of a Gaussian variational ansatz, whereas in the numerical approach we use numerical solutions of both a variational system of equations and the full time-dependent Gross–Pitaevskii equation. The harmonic modulation of the atomic s-wave scattering length of a BEC of 7 Li was achieved recently via Feshbach resonance, and such a modulation leads to a number of nonlinear effects, which we describe within our approach: mode coupling, higher harmonics generation and significant shifts in the frequencies of collective modes. In addition to the strength of atomic interactions, the geometry of the trapping potential is another key factor for the dynamics of the condensate, as well as for its collective modes. The asymmetry of the confining potential leads to important nonlinear effects, including resonances in the frequencies of collective modes of the condensate. We study in detail such geometric resonances and derive explicit analytic results for frequency shifts for the case of an axially symmetric condensate with two- and three-body interactions. Analytically obtained results are verified by extensive numerical simulations.
The collective excitations of low-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensates with two- and three-body interactions in anharmonic potentials are investigated. Using the standard variational approach, the governing equations of motions for the low-energy excitations are obtained by solving time-dependent Gross–Pitaevskii–Ginzburg equation, and the excitation spectrums are calculated in small amplitude limit. The frequency shift and nonlinear mode coupling induced by the anharmonic distortion (adding cubic, quartic, or quintic term to a harmonic trap) are studied.
We theoretically investigate the ground-state properties and breathing-mode collective excitations of three-dimensional dipolar Bose gases in anisotropic harmonic traps incorporating quantum fluctuations. Combining a Gaussian variational ansatz with a non-perturbative sum-rule analysis, we derive explicit analytical expressions for both axial and radial breathing-mode frequencies, which are validated by numerical solutions of the time-dependent extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Our theoretical predictions show excellent agreement with existing experimental data for 166Er and 162Dy gases. By constructing comprehensive phase diagrams across the parameter space of the s-wave scattering length, atom number, and trap aspect ratio, we reveal both discontinuous first-order phase transitions and smooth crossovers between the dilute Bose-Einstein condensate and dense quantum droplet phases. We confirm that the enhanced incompressibility induced by quantum fluctuations significantly elevates the breathing-mode frequencies in the droplet phase compared to conventional weakly interacting Bose gases. Furthermore, the system undergoes a phase transition and a crossover over the scattering length under the quasi-two-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional confinements, characterized by discontinuous jumps and continuous crossovers in peak density and atomic cloud sizes, respectively. Our work offers a rigorous and highly accurate framework to characterize collective excitations in dipolar quantum gases, providing quantitative insights for forthcoming ultracold atom experiments in lanthanide atoms and polar molecules.