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Physical review. E

Fate of traveling waves at the boundary of quantum droplets

Ángel Paredes, José Guerra Carmenate, Humberto Michinel

Published Oct 14, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We analyze quantum droplets formed in a two-dimensional symmetric mixture of Bose-Einstein condensed atoms. For sufficiently large atom numbers, these droplets exhibit a flattop density profile with sharp boundaries governed by surface tension. Within the bulk of the droplet, traveling matter waves-localized density dips-can propagate at constant velocity while maintaining their shape. Using numerical simulations and qualitative analysis, we investigate the rich phenomenology that arises when such excitations reach the boundary of a finite droplet. We show that they can emit a small outgoing droplet, excite internal modes of the host soliton, or, in the case of vortex-antivortex pairs, split into individual vortices propagating backward near the edge. Furthermore, we demonstrate that traveling waves can be dynamically generated near the boundary through the collision of distinct droplets, and we discuss their trajectories and interactions.

DOI
10.1103/s48r-ylm4

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We disclose a class of stable nonlinear traveling waves moving at specific constant velocities within symmetric two-dimensional quantum droplets. We present a comprehensive analysis of these traveling bubbles and identify three qualitatively distinct regions within the one-parameter family of solutions, classified by velocity: (i) well-separated phase singularities at low velocity, (ii) singularities within the same density dip at intermediate velocity, and (iii) rarefaction pulses without singularities at higher (subsonic) velocities. Then, we generalize the discussion to unstable cases, incorporating higher-order vortex-antivortex pairs and arrays of vortices that move cohesively with a common velocity within the fluid. In all cases, we provide analytic approximations that aid the understanding of the results in different regimes.
We present a novel class of stable nonlinear traveling waves that can exist within symmetric two-dimensional quantum droplets. We have made a comprehensive analysis of these topological bubbles characterizing distinct regions, classified by their velocity. We also generalize the study to unstable cases, incorporating higher-order vortex-antivortex pairs and arrays of vortices that can move with a common velocity through the fluid. Analytic approximations that aid the understanding of the results in different regimes are provided for all the cases.
We present a novel class of stable nonlinear traveling waves that can exist within symmetric two-dimensional quantum droplets. We have made a comprehensive analysis of these topological bubbles characterizing distinct regions, classified by their velocity. We also generalize the study to unstable cases, incorporating higher-order vortex-antivortex pairs and arrays of vortices that can move with a common velocity through the fluid. Analytic approximations that aid the understanding of the results in different regimes are provided for all the cases.
We discuss the stability of topological quantum droplets with the shape of two-dimensional soliton rings endowed with angular momentum that stem from a symmetric binary mixture in a Bose–Einstein condensate, with a strong trapping in one of the three spatial dimensions. We show that, in the lossless symmetric case, modeled by a Schrödinger equation with a Shannon-type nonlinear potential function, stable eigenstates can exist for arbitrarily large values of their topological charge l, provided the number of atoms is above a certain threshold. By comprehensive numerical computations, we analyze in detail cases up to l=50. We have found the perturbation modes and their eigenvalues, determining in each case which one dominates and destabilizes the solutions that lie below the stability threshold. We compare these results to the fate of the eigenstates that evolve in time. We also study the stability of the droplets under dynamical conditions by simulating collisions with potential barriers.
We report on the study of binary collisions between quantum droplets formed by an attractive mixture of ultracold atoms. We distinguish two main outcomes of the collision, i.e., merging and separation, depending on the velocity of the colliding pair. The critical velocity v_{c} that discriminates between the two cases displays a different dependence on the atom number N for small and large droplets. By comparing our experimental results with numerical simulations, we show that the nonmonotonic behavior of v_{c}(N) is due to the crossover from a compressible to an incompressible regime, where the collisional dynamics is governed by different energy scales, i.e., the droplet binding energy and the surface tension. These results also provide the first evidence of the liquidlike nature of quantum droplets in the large N limit, where their behavior closely resembles that of classical liquid droplets.
Sound propagation in quantum droplets differs from that in conventional Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) because of their self-bound nature and the role of quantum fluctuations. We investigate sound propagation in one-dimensional quantum droplets formed by a symmetric Bose-Bose mixture, focusing on finite-size and confinement effects. Using the extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we extract the sound velocity from the real-time propagation of localized density perturbations and compare it with the low-energy excitation spectrum. We find that, unlike in a conventional BEC, the sound velocity of a finite droplet is strongly affected by its density profile and quantum-pressure contribution. It decreases with increasing particle number as the droplet evolves from a Gaussian-like to a flat-top profile, approaching the bulk quantum-droplet value. In contrast, external harmonic confinement compresses the droplet and enhances the sound velocity, driving the system toward the acoustic behavior of a trapped BEC. Our results establish sound propagation as a sensitive probe of finite-size effects and the crossover between self-bound quantum droplets and conventional Bose gases, and suggest a feasible route for experimental observation in ultracold 39^{39}39K droplets.