Superfluid suppression of the elastic scattering loss in atomic Bose condensed systems can be significant when the ratio of the relative velocity of the wave packets to the critical velocity is $\ensuremath{\sim}1.$ We show how to incorporate the effect of such losses and their suppression into the time-dependent dynamics of two colliding condensate wave packets. We illustrate the magnitude of the effect through three-dimensional simulations of the collision dynamics of an
∣F=2,MF=2〉 with an
∣F=2,MF=1〉87Rb condensate in a harmonic trap, as studied in a recent experiment [Maddaloni et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2413 (2000)]. These calculations show that the effect of elastic scattering and its suppression should be seen in the oscillatory center-of-mass amplitude of the
MF=1 wave packet for suitable experimental conditions.
Bragg diffraction of atoms by light waves can create high momentum components in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Collisions between atoms from two distinct momentum wave packets cause elastic scattering that can remove a significant fraction of atoms from the wave packets and cause the formation of a spherical shell of scattered atoms. We develop a slowly varying envelope technique that includes the effects of this loss on the condensate dynamics described by the Gross-Pitaevski equation. Three-dimensional numerical calculations are presented for two experimental situations: passage of a moving daughter condensate through a nonmoving parent condensate, and four-wave mixing of matter waves.