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Physical Review A

Beyond-mean-field results for atomic Bose-Einstein condensates at interaction strengths near Feshbach resonances: A many-body dimensional perturbation-theory calculation

Brett Allen McKinney, Martin Dunn, D. K. Watson

Published May 13, 2004• 19 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present semianalytical many-body results for energies and excitation frequencies for an inhomogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate over a wide range of atom numbers $N$ for both small $s$-wave scattering lengths, typical of most laboratory experiments, and large scattering lengths, achieved by tuning through a Feshbach resonance. Our dimensional perturbation treatment includes two-body correlations at all orders and yields analytical results through first order by taking advantage of the high degree of symmetry of the condensate at the zeroth-order limit. Because $N$ remains a parameter in our analytical results, the challenge of calculating energies and excitation frequencies does not rise with the number of condensate atoms. In this proof-of-concept paper the atoms are confined in a spherical trap and are treated as hard spheres. Our many-body calculations compare well to Gross-Pitaevskii results in the weakly interacting regime and depart from the mean-field approximation as the density approaches the strongly interacting regime. The excitation frequencies provide a particularly sensitive test of beyond-mean-field corrections. For example, for $N=2000$ atoms and an experimentally realized large scattering length of $a=0.433{a}_{ho}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}({a}_{ho}=\sqrt{\ensuremath{\hbar}∕m{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{ho}})$ we predict a $75%$ shift from the mean-field breathing mode frequency.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.69.053611

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Collective Excitations in Bose-Einstein Condensates

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Physical Review A•Jan 9, 2013•14 citations
We present semianalytical many-body results for energies and excitation frequencies for an inhomogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate over a wide range of atom numbers NNN for both small sss-wave scattering lengths, typical of most laboratory experiments, and large scattering lengths, achieved by tuning through a Feshbach resonance. Our dimensional perturbation treatment includes two-body correlations at all orders and yields analytical results through first order by taking advantage of the high degree of symmetry of the condensate at the zeroth-order limit. Because NNN remains a parameter in our analytical results, the challenge of calculating energies and excitation frequencies does not rise with the number of condensate atoms. In this proof-of-concept paper the atoms are confined in a spherical trap and are treated as hard spheres. Our many-body calculations compare well to Gross-Pitaevskii results in the weakly interacting regime and depart from the mean-field approximation as the density approaches the strongly interacting regime. The excitation frequencies provide a particularly sensitive test of beyond-mean-field corrections. For example, for N=2000N=2000N=2000 atoms and an experimentally realized large scattering length of a=0.433aho(aho=\ensuremathℏ∕m\ensuremathωho)a=0.433{a}_{ho}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}({a}_{ho}=\sqrt{\ensuremath{\hbar}∕m{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{ho}})a=0.433aho​(aho​=\ensuremathℏ∕m\ensuremathωho​​) we predict a 7575%75 shift from the mean-field breathing mode frequency.
Feshbach resonances notwithstanding, most experimentally realized atomic-vapor condensates are dilute and are best described by the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation. For this reason, we use dimensional scaling methods to obtain an analytical approximation to the GP equation that is more accurate and flexible than the commonly used ground-state Thomas-Fermi approximation. We also demonstrate the power of dimensional perturbation theory by providing a full solution of a model BEC Hamiltonian and a two-electron quantum dot Hamiltonian. A feature shared by these examples is the high degree of accuracy provided by the lowest orders of the perturbation theory. In our approach to the full many-body BEC Hamiltonian, we use the lowest orders of many-body dimensional perturbation theory to obtain semi-analytical ground-state energies and collective excitation frequencies. Our many-body calculations for BEC's compare well with the Gross-Pitaevskii results in the weakly-interacting regime, as they should, and are much improved over mean-field theory predictions in the strongly-interacting regime.
Bose-Einstein condensates of 10485Rb{10}^{4}{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}10485Rb atoms in a cylindrical trap are studied using a recently proposed approach based on a local-density approximation. Since the existence of a Feshbach resonance allows for widely tuning the scattering length of the atoms, values of the peak gas parameter xpk{x}_{\mathrm{pk}}xpk​ of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ may be attained and the standard analysis based on Gross-Pitaevskii and/or Thomas-Fermi equations may result in being questionable. Energy functionals derived from the correlated basis functions theory and the low-density expansion for a homogeneous hard-spheres gas are used to estimate corrections to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The two functionals give similar results, both showing large differences with respect to the Thomas-Fermi and Gross-Pitaevskii ones. The column densities at z=0z=0z=0 may differ by as much as $\ensuremath{\sim}30%$ and the half maximum radius by $\ensuremath{\sim}20%.$ The scattering lengths estimated by fitting the half maximum radius may differ by $\ensuremath{\sim}40%$ from those given by a Thomas-Fermi-based analysis of the experimental data.
We calculate the ground-state energy and the collective excitation frequency of trapped bosons at large scattering length interacting via the realistic two-body van der Waals potential. Our many-body method keeps two-body correlations produced by all interacting pairs. When the scattering length is small compared to the trap size and the number of bosons in the trap is of the order of a few thousands, the mean-field results are in good agreement with the many-body results. However for large particle numbers, even when the condensate is sufficiently dilute, the interatomic correlation comes into the picture. When the scattering length is quite large near the Feshbach resonance, the Bose gas becomes highly correlated. The many-body results are close to the Gross-Pitaevskii results for a small number of bosons, however, large deviations are noted in the large particle limit. We also calculate the lowest collective excitation and the interaction energy for large scattering lengths. The monopole excitation frequency exhibits a pronounced dependence on the scattering length. We also observe a universal behavior for the interaction energy at the limit of large scattering length.
The research described in this thesis is part of an international effort with the aim of studying ultracold quantum degenerate gas samples like Bose-Einstein condensates and Fermi degenerate systems, consisting of atoms confined in magnetic or optical traps. The behavior of such samples is governed by the inter-atomic interactions and the resulting properties of the atom-atom scattering. At the relevant temperatures of 1nK to 10µK a key property is the atom-atom scattering length a. In chapter 2 a theoretical method is presented which enables one to describe the interaction and scattering of (ultra)cold atoms to unprecedented precision. It is also unparalleled in comprehensiveness: it allows the prediction of a large and varied set of experimental data for all isotopes of the same element. The method relies on the extraction from experiments of a few (phase) parameters which completely summarize the behavior of the atoms in the (ultra)cold regime. In chapter 3 the method is applied to the "workhorses" of cold-atom physics: the atomic species 85Rb and 87Rb. We extract the foregoing parameters to a very high precision from several recent high precision experiments, allowing us to predict e.g. the 87Rb spinor condensate to be ferromagnetic: a prediction for which the scattering length has to be calculated with a precision better than 1%. We also predict Feshbach resonances at experimentally accessible magnetic field strengths; resonances searched for and found by the experimental group of Rempe. In close collaboration with his group we "fine-tune" the interaction parameters found previously, by making use of only one of the observed resonances. We then obtain agreement with 42 out of the observed 43 resonance field strengths and are able to identify bound states inducing the Feshbach resonances at these locations. Chapter 4 describes the results of this research. With a thorough understanding of the rubidium interactions, we then switch to lithium which has a fermionic (6Li) and a bosonic (7Li) isotope. Both are being used in cold-atom experiments. In chapter 5 we evaluate the interaction parameters for lithium allowing us to predict magnetic field strengths for which a sample of fermionic 6Li atoms can be regarded as strongly interacting. Furthermore, a three-level method for measuring mean-field shifts, based on radio-frequency techniques, is introduced. For weak interactions we find proportionality of resonance shifts to interaction strengths. In the strongly interacting regime, however, these shifts become very small reflecting the quantum unitarity limit and many-body effects. Most interesting is the fact that in this regime the shifts are small both for large positive a and for large negative a, likely reflecting the universality of the interaction energy. In chapters 6 and 7 the interactions between lithium atoms are reinvestigated, making use of newly available experimental data and with the updated interaction parameters special attention is paid to locating field strengths at which magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances occur in the scattering of lithium atoms. In chapter 6 scattering events in a gas of (fermionic) 6Li atoms are studied. In chapter 7 we show that a consistent description of the 6Li+6Li system can be given. We discuss theoretical uncertainties for the position of the wide 6Li Feshbach resonance and present an analytic scattering model for this resonance, based on the inclusion of a field-dependent virtual open-channel state. We predict new Feshbach resonances for the 6Li-7Li system, and their importance for different types of crossover superfluidity models is discussed. Molecules created by magnetically sweeping over these resonances will have a fermionic character. One magnetic field strength is predicted at which two different fermionic molecules can be created simultaneously.
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.
A two-body correlated basis set is used to develop a many-body theory which is valid for any number of bosons in the trap. The formalism incorporates the van der Waals interaction and two-body correlations in an exact way. The theory has successfully been applied to Bose-Einstein condensates---dilute weakly interacting and also dilute but having a large scattering length. Even in the extreme dilute condition, we observe the breakdown of the shape-independent approximation and the interatomic correlation plays an important role in the large particle-number limit. This correlated many-body calculation can handle, within the two-body correlation approximation, the entire range of atom number of experimentally achieved condensates. Next we successfully push the basis function for large scattering lengths where the mean-field results are manifestly bad. The sharp increase in correlation energy clearly shows the beyond-mean-field effect. We also calculate one-particle densities for various scattering lengths and particle numbers. Our many-body calculation exhibits the finite-size effect in the one-body density.