We study zero-temperature quantum phase fluctuations in harmonically trapped one-dimensional interacting Bose gases, using the self-consistent multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method. In a regime of mesoscopic particle numbers and moderate contact couplings, it is shown that the phase-fluctuating condensate is properly described as a fragmented condensate. In addition, we demonstrate that the spatial dependence of the amplitude of phase fluctuations significantly deviates from what is obtained in Bogoliubov theory. Our results can be verified in currently available experiments. They therefore provide an opportunity both to experimentally benchmark the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method, as well as to directly observe, for the first time, the quantum many-body phenomenon of fragmentation in single traps.
We study zero-temperature quantum phase fluctuations in harmonically trapped one-dimensional interacting Bose gases, using the self-consistent multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method. In a regime of mesoscopic particle numbers and moderate contact couplings, it is shown that the phase-fluctuating condensate is properly described as a fragmented condensate. In addition, we demonstrate that the spatial dependence of the amplitude of phase fluctuations significantly deviates from what is obtained in Bogoliubov theory. Our results can be verified in currently available experiments. They therefore provide an opportunity both to experimentally benchmark the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method, as well as to directly observe, for the first time, the quantum many-body phenomenon of fragmentation in single traps.
We investigate the level population statistics and degree of coherence encoded in the single-particle density matrix of harmonically trapped low-dimensional [quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) or quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D)] Bose gases with repulsive contact interactions. Using a variational analysis, we derive fragmentation of the condensate in the weakly confining directions into two (quasi-1D) and three (quasi-2D) mutually incoherent macroscopic pieces, upon increasing a dimensionless interaction measure beyond a critical value. Fragmented condensate many-body states in low-dimensional systems therefore occur well before the thermodynamic limit of infinite extension is reached, in which phase fluctuations of the matter wave field create an infinite number of nonmacroscopic fragments.
Understanding how coherent quantum dynamics give way to correlation-dominated behavior in low-dimensional systems remains a central challenge in quantum many-body physics. Here, we investigate a one-dimensional Bose-Josephson junction confined in a box trap using the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons (MCTDHB). By varying the interaction strength and initial population imbalance, we identify distinct dynamical regimes governed by the competition between coherence and correlation-induced fragmentation. Weak interactions support coherent Josephson oscillations, whereas increasing imbalance leads to damping. At intermediate interaction strength, varying only the initial imbalance induces a crossover from nearly pure coherent oscillations to many-body dephasing with collapse-and-revival dynamics, and ultimately to equilibration accompanied by strong fragmentation and the saturation of many-body observables. In the strongly interacting regime, the system enters a dynamical freezing regime characterized by pronounced fragmentation, well-separated particle-resolved density peaks, and strongly suppressed tunneling. A systematic comparison with the Bose-Hubbard model reveals excellent agreement in the weakly interacting regime, while progressively larger deviations emerge as higher-orbital occupations beyond the two-mode approximation become significant. These results provide a unified picture of the emergence and competition of coherence, many-body dephasing, equilibration, and dynamical freezing, while delineating the regime of validity of the Bose-Hubbard description.
Weakly interacting Bose gases in a disorder environment have long been a challenging topic in the field of solid-state physics due to the intriguing interplay between superfluidity and localization. In this thesis we investigate theoretically the equilibrium properties of one- and three-dimensional harmonically trapped dirty Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). In particular we focus on the decomposition of the total particle density into three components, namely, the condensate density, the thermal density, and the density of fragmented local Bose-Einstein condensates within the respective minima of the random potential landscape. In order to determine the different density components we develop a Hartree-Fock mean-field theory for a weakly interacting trapped BEC in a random environment, then specialize it to contact interaction and delta-correlated disorder. This non-perturbative theory is worked out on the basis of the replica method, which represents a well- established tool to deal with disorder problems. With this we calculate the corresponding free energy at finite temperature and derive from it the underlying self-consistency equations for the respective density components. Then, as a first step, we investigate a quasi one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensed gas in a harmonic trapping potential with an additional delta- correlated disorder potential at zero temperature. To this end we solve the self-consistency equations within the Thomas-Fermi approximation and find the emergence of a Bose-glass region, where the condensate vanishes. We corroborate this analysis by an elaborate numerical treatment, where the corresponding one-dimensional time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is numerically solved and disorder-ensemble averages of the condensate wave function are performed. The variance of the condensate wave function quantifies the number of bosons which condense in the local minima of the random potential. For weak disorder these mini-condensates turn out to occur preferentially at the border of the condensate, while for intermediate disorder strength this happens in the trap center. Additionally we use a variational ansatz in order to describe analytically the numerically observed redistribution of the fragmented mini-condensates with increasing disorder strength. In close analogy to the one-dimensional case we then treat the three-dimensional dirty Bose gas in an isotropic harmonic trap and a delta- correlated disorder potential at zero temperature using the corresponding self-consistency equations obtained via the Hartree-Fock mean-field theory within the Thomas-Fermi approximation. Additionally we use a variational ansatz, whose results turn out to coincide qualitatively with those obtained from the Thomas-Fermi approximation. Inparticular, a first order quantum phase transition from the superfluid phase, where the condensate density contributes to the total density, to the Bose-glass phase, where all particles are in the mini-condensates, is detected at a critical disorder strength, which agrees with findings in the literature. Furthermore, in a generaltriaxial harmonic trap, we investigate the geometric effect of different trap aspect ratios on the respective properties of the dirty BEC system. Finally, we consider the three- dimensional dirty BEC at finite temperature. This allows us to study the impact of both temperature and disorder fluctuations on the respective components of the density as well as their Thomas-Fermi radii. In particular, we find that the superfluid region, the Bose-glass region, and the thermal region coexist. Furthermore, depending on the system parameters, three phase transitions are detected, namely, one from the superfluid to the Bose-glass phase, one from the Boseglass to the thermal phase, and finally one directly from the superfluid to the thermal phase. All these results could be particularly useful for a quantitative analysis of world-wide on-going experiments with dirty bosons in quasi one-dimensional and three-dimensional harmonic traps.
The occupation of more than one single-particle state, and hence the emergence of fragmentation, is a many-body phenomenon occurring for systems of spatially confined strongly interacting bosons. In the present study, we investigate the effect of the range of the interparticle interactions on the fragmentation degree of one- and two-dimensional systems in single wells. We solve the full many-body Schr\"odinger equation of the system using the recursive implementation of the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree for bosons method (R-MCTDHB). The dependence of the degree of fragmentation on dimensionality, particle number, areal or line density, and interaction strength is assessed. For contact interactions, it is found that the fragmentation is essentially density independent in two dimensions. However, fragmentation increasingly depends on density the more long ranged the interactions become. At fixed particle number N, the degree of fragmentation is increasing when the density is decreasing, as expected in one spatial dimension. We demonstrate that this, nontrivially, remains true also for long-range interactions in two spatial dimensions. We, finally, find that fragmentation in a single well is a mesoscopic phenomenon: Within our fully self-consistent approach, the degree of fragmentation, to a good approximation, decreases universally as ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ when only N is varied.
Quantum fluctuations in time-dependent, harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates are studied within Bogoliubov theory. An eigenmode expansion of the linear field operators permits the diagonalization of the Bogoliubov--de Gennes equation for a stationary condensate. When trap frequency or interaction strength is varied, the inhomogeneity of the background gives rise to off-diagonal coupling terms between different modes. This coupling is negligible for low energies, i.e., in the hydrodynamic regime, and an effective space-time metric can be introduced. The influence of the intermode coupling will be demonstrated in an example, where I calculate the quasiparticle number for a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate subject to an exponential sweep of interaction strength and trap frequency.
The theoretical investigation of rotating Bose-Einstein condensates has mainly focused on the emergence of quantum vortex states and the condensed properties of such systems. In the present work, we concentrate on other facets by examining the impact of rotation on the ground state of weakly interacting bosons confined in anharmonic potentials computed both at the mean-field level and particularly at the many-body level of theory. For the many-body computations, we employ the well-established many-body method known as the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons. We present how various degrees of fragmentation can be generated following the breakup of the ground state densities in anharmonic traps without ramping up a potential barrier for strong rotations. The breakup of the densities is found to be associated with the acquisition of angular momentum in the condensate due to the rotation. In addition to fragmentation, the presence of many-body correlations is examined by computing the variances of the many-particle position and momentum operators. For strong rotations, the many-body variances become smaller than their mean-field counterparts, and one even finds a scenario with opposite anisotropies of the mean-field and many-body variances. Further, it is observed that for higher discrete symmetric systems of order k, namely three-fold and four-fold symmetry, breakup to k sub-clouds and emergence of k-fold fragmentation take place. All in all, we provide a thorough many-body investigation of how and which correlations build up when a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate breaks up under rotation.