Few-Body Systems in Low-Dimensional Geometries:• Dipoles in Multi-Layer and Multi-Tube Configurations • Strongly-Interacting Particles in One-Dimensional Traps
The research in this dissertation is devoted to few-body bound state physics in experimentally relevant systems of trapped atoms and molecules. First, the complexes of tubes containing dipoles are considered. The tubes are assumed to have zero width such that one-dimensional treatment can be applied. For this setup few-body bound structures are found for different polarization an- gles and dipole strengths by using stochastic variational methods. After that a similar analysis is provided for two-dimensional planes filled with dipolar par- ticles. At the end of the thesis, a system of particles in one-dimensional traps is analyzed assuming that two-body interactions are of zero range. It is shown that such a system is solvable in the limit of infinitely strong repulsion between particles.
The research in this dissertation is devoted to few-body bound state physics in experimentally relevant systems of trapped atoms and molecules. First, the complexes of tubes containing dipoles are considered. The tubes are assumed to have zero width such that one-dimensional treatment can be applied. For this setup few-body bound structures are found for different polarization an- gles and dipole strengths by using stochastic variational methods. After that a similar analysis is provided for two-dimensional planes filled with dipolar par- ticles. At the end of the thesis, a system of particles in one-dimensional traps is analyzed assuming that two-body interactions are of zero range. It is shown that such a system is solvable in the limit of infinitely strong repulsion between particles.
We consider one-dimensional tubes containing bosonic polar molecules. The long-range dipole–dipole interactions act both within a single tube and between different tubes. We consider arbitrary values of the externally aligned dipole moments with respect to the symmetry axis of the tubes. The few-body structures in this geometry are determined as a function of polarization angles and dipole strength by using both essentially exact stochastic variational methods and the harmonic approximation. The main focus is on the three-, four- and five-body problems in two or more tubes. Our results indicate that in the weakly coupled limit the intertube interaction is similar to a zero-range term with a suitable rescaled strength. This allows us to address the corresponding many-body physics of the system by constructing a model where bound chains with one molecule in each tube are the effective degrees of freedom. This model can be mapped onto one-dimensional Hamiltonians for which exact solutions are known.
Bound structures among dipolar molecules in multilayers are a topic of great interest in the light of recent experiments that have demonstrated the feasibility of the setup. While it is known that two molecules in two adjacent layers will always bind, larger complexes have only been scarcely addressed thus far. Here we prove rigorously that three- and four-body states will never be bound when the dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the layers. The technique employed is general and can be used for more molecules or layers and other geometries. Our analytical findings are supported by numerical calculations for both fermionic and bosonic molecules. Furthermore, we calculate the reduction in intralayer repulsion necessary to bind large complexes and estimate the influence of bound complexes in systems with many layers.
This dissertation, based on six included papers, theoretically investigates properties of quantum few-particle systems. An overview of related experimental research - ultra-cold trapped dilute gases, and electrons in quantum dots - is given, followed by a description of some of the studied many-particle phenomena - Bose-Einstein condensation, quantized vortices, Wigner localization and the Tonks-Girardeau gas. As the research results are presented in the included papers, a main part of the text in this thesis sets focus on methodology. Most of the papers involve use of the configuration interaction method, a numerical method which can give approximative eigenvalues and eigenstates of a few-particle Hamiltonian. The research has also involved further development of this method, by use of the Lee-Suzuki approximation. Formal descriptions of the methods are presented, together with a discussion about the numerical implementation. Explicit examples are given in an appendix. Papers I and II investigate properties of a rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensate, in particular emerging vortex structures and associated wavefunctions. Paper III demonstrates that the Lee-Suzuki approximation, initially developed in the field of nuclear structure theory, can be useful to describe short-range particle-particle correlations in a trapped bosonic gas. Paper IV investigates the possibility to observe Wigner localization in a nanowire quantum dot, and compares predicted electron transport properties with experimental measurements. Paper V analyzes structures of ultra-cold atoms or molecules with dipolar interactions, in a quasi-one-dimensional trap. Paper VI also considers cold atoms or molecules with dipolar interactions, but in a quasi-two-dimensional setup, with a focus on the resulting Wigner states' dependence on the anisotropy of the interaction.
In this Thesis, we report a detailed study of the ground-state properties of a set of quantum few- and many-body systems in one and two dimensions with different types of interactions by using Quantum Monte Carlo methods. Nevertheless, the main focus of this work is the study of the ground-state properties of an ultracold Bose system with dipole-dipole interaction between the particles. We consider the cases where the bosons are confined to a bilayer and multilayer geometries, that consist of equally spaced two-dimensional layers. These layers can be experimentally realized by imposing tight confinement in one direction. We specifically address the study of new quantum phases, their properties, and transitions between them. One expects these systems to have a rich collection of few- and many-body phases because the dipole-dipole interaction is anisotropic and quasi long-range.
In this thesis, we study the physical properties of several ultracold few-boson systems depending on the interactions between their constituents. Nowadays, experimentally, it is possible to have great control with high precision over the geometry and the interactions between the particles, making them an excellent setup to test directly the principles of quantum mechanics. A very interesting point is to study the evolution of their properties with the number of particles. The theoretical study of these systems pretends to microscopically understand the current experimental results and give support to new experimental developments.\n\n\t\t\t\t The method that will be used is the exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian of the system. As we will see, in spite of the attempts to improve it, the method is limited by the fact that, in practice, it is only useful to study few-particle systems. The method has several advantages. First of all, one has access to both the ground and the excited states. In second place, the method is variational and converges to the exact solution as long as the Hilbert space in which we diagonalize is enlarged.\n\t\t\t\t Moreover, since we have access to the states of the system, it is possible to calculate any observable quantity of interest.\n\n\t\t\t\t First, we will study a system of spinless bosons trapped in a two-dimensional harmonic potential. The effect of the trap is to keep the system bound. It will be seen how the presence of a repulsive interaction changes the energy spectrum and other properties of the system. For instance, the density profile, which is usually measurable, and also the two-body distribution function, which is intimately related to the existence of correlations.\n\n\t\t\t\t Afterwards, the focus will be on the particular case of having only two bosons in the system interacting through a strong repulsive force. Inspired by the one-dimensional case where the fermionization phenomenon takes place in the strongly-interacting limit, we will study whether in two dimensions there is a resembling reminiscent effect. In other words, we will analyze if there are properties of the two strongly-interacting bosons in two dimensions that are like the ones of two noninteracting fermions.\n\n\t\t\t\t After that, we will tackle the localization phenomenon in a one-dimensional system that is caused by an external speckle potential that introduces disorder in the system. We will show that the localization is a robust phenomenon against repulsive contact interactions.\n\n\t\t\t\t Finally, we will study the influence of the spin-orbit coupling in a system of bosons with two possible pseudospin components, associated, for instance, to two hyperfine levels, confined in a two-dimensional harmonic trap. We will present an exhaustive analysis of the combined effects of the interaction and the spin-orbit coupling in the spectrum and the properties of the system. In particular we show the existence of a crossover in the ground state of the system susceptible to be experimentally identified.