Variational Thomas-Fermi Theory OF a Nonuniform Bose Condensate at Zero Temperature

Eddy Timmermans, Paolo Tommasini, Kerson Huang

We derive a description of the spatially inhomogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate, treating the system locally as a homogeneous Bose gas. This approach, similar to the Thomas-Fermi model for the inhomogeneous many-particle fermion system, is well suited to describe the atomic Bose-Einstein condensates that have recently been obtained experimentally through atomic trapping and cooling. In this paper, we confine our attention to the zero-temperature case, although the treatment can be generalized to finite temperatures, as we shall discuss elsewhere. Several features of this approach, which we shall call the Thomas-Fermi-Bogoliubov description, are very attractive. (i) It is simpler than the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov technique. We can obtain analytical results in the case of weakly interacting bosons for quantities such as the chemical potential, the local depletion, pairing, pressure, and density of states. (ii) The method provides an estimate for the error due to the inhomogeneity of the Bose-condensed system. This error is a local quantity so that the validity of the description for a given trap and a given number of trapped atoms can be tested as a function of position. We see, for example, that at the edge of the condensate the Thomas-Fermi-Bogoliubov theory always breaks down. (iii) The Thomas-Fermi-Bogoliubov description can be generalized to treat the statistical mechanics of the Bose gas at finite temperatures.

David A. W. Hutchinson

Mohamed Benarous, Samet, H. Chachou

We rely on a variational approach to derive a set of equations governing a trapped self-interacting Bose gas at finite temperature. In this work, we analyze the static situation both at zero and finite temperature in the Thomas-Fermi limit. We derive simple analytic expressions for the condensate properties at finite temperature. The noncondensate and anomalous density profiles are also analyzed in terms of the condensate fraction. The results are quite encouraging owing to the simplicity of the formalism.

G. Benfatto

C. J. Pethick, H. Smith

In the present chapter we consider the structure of the Bose–Einstein condensed state in the presence of interactions. Our discussion is based on the Gross–Pitaevskii equation, which describes the zero-temperature properties of the non-uniform Bose gas when the scattering length a is much less than the mean interparticle spacing. We shall first derive the Gross–Pitaevskii equation at zero temperature by treating the interaction between particles in a mean-field approximation (Sec. 6.1). Following that, in Sec. 6.2 we discuss the ground state of atomic clouds in a harmonic-oscillator potential. We compare results obtained by variational methods with those derived in the Thomas–Fermi approximation, in which the kinetic energy operator is neglected in the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. The Thomas–Fermi approximation fails near the surface of a cloud, and in Sec. 6.3 we calculate the surface structure using the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. In Sec. 6.4 we determine how the condensate wave function ‘heals’ when subjected to a localized disturbance. Finally, in Sec. 6.5 we show how the magnetic dipole–dipole interaction, which is long-ranged and anisotropic, may be included in the Gross–Pitaevskii equation and determine within the Thomas–Fermi approximation its effect on the density distribution. The Gross–Pitaevskii equation In the previous chapter we have shown that the effective interaction between two particles at low energies is a constant in the momentum representation, U 0 = 4π ħ 2 a/m .

保彦 津江