The one-dimensional soliton state of Bose-Einstein condensate

Shunji Tsuchiya, F. Dalfovo, Лев П. Питаевский

The excitations of a two-dimensional (2D) Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a soliton are studied by solving the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation which is valid when the velocity of the soliton approaches the speed of sound. The excitation spectrum is found to contain states which are localized near the soliton and have a dispersion law similar to the one of the stable branch of transverse oscillations of a 1D gray soliton in a 2D condensate. By using the stabilization method we show that these localized excitations behave as resonant states coupled to the continuum of free excitations of the condensate.

David L. Feder

Alexandre Heuchamps

Alain M. Dikandé

By examining the bound-state spectra of transverse fluctuations about one-dimensional, spatially localized dark and bright soliton wavetrains of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, it is established that the low-temperature ground states of repulsive and attractive quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates are degenerate. In the one-soliton limit, both ground states are shown to possess two distinct transverse fluctuation modes which can couple to the spatial soliton: the first involves zero-energy exchange, costing only the soliton shape dressing via uniform translation of its centre of mass. The second mode contributes in a negative energy for the repulsive case, but positive energy in the attractive case. This unstability of the repulsive spatial soliton against localized transverse fluctuation modes invalidates the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for stationary solitonic processes in repulsive 1D Bose-Einstein-Condensate systems.

Radha Balakrishnan, Indubala I. Satija

Holly A. J. Middleton-Spencer, Nicholas G. Parker, Luca Galantucci +1 more

We present a method to detect the presence and depth of dark solitons within repulsive one-dimensional harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. For a system with one soliton, we provide numerical evidence that the shift of the density in Fourier space directly maps onto the depth of the soliton. For multi-soliton systems, combining our spectral method with established imaging techniques, the character of the solitons present in the condensate can be determined. We verify that the detection of solitons by the spectral shift works in the presence of waves induced by density engineering methods. Finally we discuss implications for vortex detection in three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates.