Interactions in low-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates
Lee, Mark David
Recent experiments have been moving ever closer to the goal of creating cold quantum-degenerate Bose gases in one and two dimensional systems. In this thesis we investigate such systems by adapting the mean-field theories used so successfully to describe Bose-Einstein condensates in the three dimensional case. We find that the key to describing the low dimensional systems lies in an accurate description of the interactions within those systems. In three dimensions the interactions may be well approximated by a simple form in which atoms are assumed to interact in a vacuum. Many-body effects on the scattering then lead to only a small perturbation. However, in one and two dimensions we find that the inclusion of many-body effects on the scattering is crucial, even for a first order calculation. We use a many-body T-matrix to describe the interactions, and develop a simple approximation in the zero-temperature limit that involves the off-shell two-body T-matrix evaluated at a shifted interaction energy. We therefore derive expressions for the off-shell two-body T-matrix in one, two, and three dimensions, and so find expressions for the coupling parameters which describe interactions in one and two dimensional Bose gases. These lead to interaction terms in the one and two dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equations which differ significantly from the three dimensional case. We present numerical solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in both one and two dimensions, and in one dimension we find that the results are in agreement with exact results in the extreme limits of the interaction strength. We also investigate higher order theories in the one-dimensional case, with a view to describing the cross-over from a weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate to a quasicondensate as the interactions become stronger. Finally, we study the Bogoliubov-de Gennes excitation spectrum for a one dimensional condensate containing solitons. We show that it has an anomalous mode with a negative energy, and that this represents the collective motion of the soliton relative to the background condensate. (author)
•Jan 1, 2002•0 citations