Revue Nature et Technologie
Dynamical Variational Approach for Trapped Gases at Finite Temperature
Mohamed Benarous
Abstract
We analyze the static TDHFB equations in the Thomas-Fermi limit for a gas of bosons in a harmonic trap . These equations naturally generalize the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We first build a simple enough method that allows f or the determination of the various density profile s. At zero temperature, we obtain familiar expressions for the chemical pot ential and the condensate radius. The standard Thomas-Fermi profile for the condensate density is also recovered. For finit e temperatures and above the transition, we derive analytical expressions for the condensate radius, the chemical potential, the number of condensed atoms and the depletion as functions of the temperature. We observe that the condensate radius and the column density are surprisingly very slow f unctions of the temperature. Furthermore, the non-condensed density, although being quite uniform inside the trap, gro ws rapidly with the temperature. These facts imply therefore that the c ondensed atoms are very strongly attached and exhib it a certain robustness against ''decondensation''. Moreover, the transitio n to the non condensed phase seems to be much more controlled by the thermal cloud which rapidly grows from the borders toward the centre of the trap.