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arXiv:cond-mat/0607821 · Physical Review A

Unitary gas in an isotropic harmonic trap: Symmetry properties and applications

Félix Werner, Yvan Castin

Published Nov 6, 2006• 240 citations
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Abstract

We consider $N$ atoms trapped in an isotropic harmonic potential, with $s$-wave interactions of infinite scattering length. In the zero-range limit, we obtain several exact analytical results: mapping between the trapped problem and the free-space zero-energy problem, separability in hyperspherical coordinates, SO(2,1) hidden symmetry, existence of a decoupled bosonic degree of freedom, and relations between the moments of the trapping potential energy and the moments of the total energy.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.74.053604

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We investigate the thermodynamics of a Bose gas interacting with repulsive forces and confined in a harmonic trap. We show that the relevant parameters of the system (temperature, number NNN of atoms, harmonic oscillator length, deformation of the trap, sss-wave scattering length) fix its thermodynamic behavior in the large NNN limit through two dimensionless scaling parameters. These are the reduced temperature t=T/Tc0t\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}T/{T}_{c}^{0}t=T/Tc0​ and the ratio $\ensuremath{\eta}$ between the T=0T\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0T=0 value of the chemical potential, evaluated in the Thomas-Fermi limit, and the critical temperature Tc0{T}_{c}^{0}Tc0​ of the noninteracting model. The scaling functions relative to the condensate fraction, energy, chemical potential, and moment of inertia are calculated within the Popov approximation.
We calculate energy levels of two and three bosons trapped in a harmonic oscillator potential with oscillator length aosc{a}_{\mathrm{o}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{c}}aosc​. The atoms are assumed to interact through a short-range potential with a scattering length aaa, and the short-distance behavior of the three-body wave function is characterized by a parameter $\ensuremath{\theta}$. For large positive a/aosca/{a}_{\mathrm{o}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{c}}a/aosc​, the energies of states that, in the absence of the trap, correspond to three free atoms approach values independent of aaa and $\ensuremath{\theta}$. For other states, the $\ensuremath{\theta}$ dependence of the energy is strong, but the energy is independent of aaa for $|a/{a}_{\mathrm{o}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{c}}|\ensuremath{\gg}1$.