A system of charged particles in a harmonic trap is a realization of Thomson's raisin cake model. Therefore, we call it a Thomson atom. Bosonic, fermionic and mixed Thomson atoms exist. In this paper we focus on bosonic Thomson atoms in isotropic traps. Approximating the exact ground state by a condensate we investigate ground-state properties at temperature T = 0 using the Hartree-Fock theory for bosons. In order to assess the quality of our mean-field approach we compare the Hartree-Fock results for bosonic Thomson helium with an exact diagonalization. In contrast to the weakly interacting Bose gas (alkali vapours) mean-field calculations are reliable in the limit of large particle density. The Wigner regime (low particle density) is discussed.
A system of charged particles in a harmonic trap is a realization of Thomson's raisin cake model. Therefore, we call it a Thomson atom. Bosonic, fermionic and mixed Thomson atoms exist. In this paper we focus on bosonic Thomson atoms in isotropic traps. Approximating the exact ground state by a condensate we investigate ground-state properties at temperature T = 0 using the Hartree-Fock theory for bosons. In order to assess the quality of our mean-field approach we compare the Hartree-Fock results for bosonic Thomson helium with an exact diagonalization. In contrast to the weakly interacting Bose gas (alkali vapours) mean-field calculations are reliable in the limit of large particle density. The Wigner regime (low particle density) is discussed.
A self-consistent mean-field (Hartree-Fock) theory for bosons for temperature T>0 is used to compute the spatial distribution of 7Li atoms in a harmonic trap. In light of recent experimental observations at Rice University, the goal is to establish the extent to which Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) is possible with 7Li atoms, and to deduce the most effective signature of BEC from observations of the spatial profile. Our Hamiltonian, which includes the anisotropic external trap field and atom-atom interactions, is equivalent to that used previously for trapped atomic hydrogen. However, the attractive atom-atom interaction creates a localized well near the origin and precludes use of the usual local-density approximation. Eigenfunctions for the lowest orbitals are obtained by iteration. The total density is obtained from a sum with Bose population factors for these explicitly computed orbitals, together with analytic sums for unperturbed (ideal gas) orbitals for higher-lying states. For a small range of temperatures near Tc, it is found that the atomic cloud exhibits a spatially localized ``condensate peak'' composed primarily of atoms in the ground state. For lower T, such that more than 800--1200 atoms are in the ground state, the calculations become numerically unstable as found previously for T=0. Computational results for the collisional spin-flip ejection rate for T near Tc and an estimate of the fluctuation in the number of atoms in the condensate are presented.
We consider two models of interacting Bose gases: a gas of spin one particles in the ground state of a cubic box and a one-dimension Bose gas with contact interactions. We show how to calculate exact eigenstates of the corresponding N-body Hamiltonians. Both models share the property of not leading to the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, even at zero temperature, in the strict sense of the existence of a single one-particle state with a macroscopic population. We show that a lot of physical insight can be gained on these two model systems by using the usual Hartree-Fock mean field approach: in this approximation, that we test against the exact result, everything happens as if a single realization of the system was a Bose-Einstein condensate in a state phi breaking the rotational or translational symmetry, and varying in a random way for any new experimental realization.
We evaluate the zero temperature properties and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of hard sphere bosons in a harmonic trap using Quantum Monte Carlo methods. The chief purpose of this work is to go beyond the dilute limit, to test the limits of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and related mean field approximations and to explore the role of interactions in determining the zero temperature properties of the trapped Bose gas. The density is increased by adjusting both the number of trapped bosons, N , and the s-wave scattering length, a, to study systems from the highly dilute region corresponding to early experiments in trapped BEC [2, 3] up to liquid He densities and beyond. Rather than relying on the perturbative Bogoliubov approximation (which assumes a large condensate fraction) to describe the condensate, we use the one-body density matrix (OBDM) formulation of BEC so that the properties of the condensate for systems with arbitrarily large interactions may be studied. In this formulation of BEC, condensate properties are obtained by diagonalizing the OBDM and obtaining the corresponding single particle “natural orbitals” and their occupation numbers for the system. The condensate wave function and condensate fraction are then obtained from the single particle orbital(s) with macroscopic occupation (N0 >> 1). Within this framework, we calculate the effects of interactions and increased density on the ground state energy, the density profile, the momentum distribution, the condensate fraction and condensate “wave-function” and several other properties.
The fact that two-dimensional interacting trapped systems do not undergo Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in the thermodynamic limit, though rigorously proved, is somewhat mysterious because all relevant limiting cases (zero temperature, small atom numbers, noninteracting particles) suggest otherwise. We study the possibility of condensation in finite trapped two-dimensional systems. We first consider the ideal gas, which incorporates the inhomogeneity and finite size of experimental systems and can be solved exactly. A semiclassical self-consistent approximation gives us a feel for the temperature scales; diagonalization of the one-body density matrix confirms that the condensation is into a single state. We squeeze a three-dimensional system and see how it crosses over into two dimensions. Mean-field theory, our main tool for the study of interacting systems, prescribes coupled equations for the condensate and the thermal cloud: the condensate receives a full quantum-mechanical treatment, while the noncondensate is described by different schemes of varying sophistication. We analyze the T = 0 case and its approach to the thermodynamic limit, finding a criterion for the dimensionality crossover and obtaining the coupling constant of the two-dimensional system that results from squeezing a three-dimensional trap. We next apply a semiclassical Hartree-Fock approximation to purely two-dimensional finite gases and find that they can be described either with or without a condensate; this continues to be true in the thermodynamic limit. The condensed solutions have a lower free energy at all temperatures but neglect the presence of phonons within the system and cease to exist when we allow for this possibility. The uncondensed solutions, in turn, are valid under a more rigorous scheme but have consistency problems of their own. Path-integral Monte Carlo simulations provide an essentially exact description of finite interacting gases and enable us to study highly anisotropic systems at finite temperature. We find that our two-dimensional Hartree-Fock solutions accurately mimic the surface density profile and predict the condensate fraction of these systems; the equivalent interaction parameter is smaller than that dictated by the T = 0 analysis. We conclude that, in two-dimensional isotropic finite trapped systems and in highly compressed three-dimensional gases, there is a phenomenon resembling a condensation into a single state.
The mean-field properties of finite-temperature Bose-Einstein gases confined in spherically symmetric harmonic traps are surveyed numerically. The solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) equations for the condensate and low-lying quasiparticle excitations are calculated self-consistently using the discrete variable representation, while the most high-lying states are obtained with a local-density approximation. Consistency of the theory for temperatures through the Bose condensation point Tc requires that the thermodynamic chemical potential differ from the eigenvalue of the GP equation; the appropriate modifications lead to results that are continuous as a function of the particle interactions. The HFB equations are made gapless either by invoking the Popov approximation or by renormalizing the particle interactions. The latter approach effectively reduces the strength of the effective scattering length asc, increases the number of condensate atoms at each temperature, and raises the value of Tc relative to the Popov approximation. The renormalization effect increases approximately with the log of the atom number, and is most pronounced at temperatures near Tc. Comparisons with the results of quantum Monte Carlo calculations and various local-density approximations are presented, and experimental consequences are discussed.
We study a system of trapped bosonic particles interacting by model harmonic forces. Our model allows for detailed examination of the notion of an order parameter (a condensate wave function). By decomposing a single particle density matrix into coherent eigenmodes we study an effect of interaction on the condensate. We show that sufficiently strong interactions cause that the condensate disappears even if the whole system is in its lowest energy state. In the second part of our paper we discuss the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation by comparing its predictions with results inferred from the exactl y soluble model. In particular we examine an energy spectrum, occupation, and fluctuations of the condensate. We conclude that Bogoliubov approach gives quite accurate description of the system in the limit of weak interactions.