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arXiv:cond-mat/0612342 · Physical Review A

Excitations of few-boson systems in one-dimensional harmonic and double wells

Sascha Zöllner, Hans‐Dieter Meyer, Peter Schmelcher

Published Apr 11, 2007• 38 citations
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Abstract

We examine the lowest excitations of one-dimensional few-boson systems trapped in double wells of variable barrier height. Based on a numerically exact multiconfigurational method, we follow the whole pathway from the noninteracting to the fermionization limit. It is shown how, in a purely harmonic trap, the initially equidistant, degenerate levels are split up due to interactions, but merge again for strong enough coupling. In a double well, the low-lying spectrum is largely rearranged in the course of fermionization, exhibiting level adhesion and (anti)crossings. The evolution of the underlying states is explained in analogy to the ground-state behavior. Our discussion is complemented by illuminating the crossover from a single to a double well.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.043608

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We examine the lowest excitations of one-dimensional few-boson systems trapped in double wells of variable barrier height. Based on a numerically exact multiconfigurational method, we follow the whole pathway from the noninteracting to the fermionization limit. It is shown how, in a purely harmonic trap, the initially equidistant, degenerate levels are split up due to interactions, but merge again for strong enough coupling. In a double well, the low-lying spectrum is largely rearranged in the course of fermionization, exhibiting level adhesion and (anti)crossings. The evolution of the underlying states is explained in analogy to the ground-state behavior. Our discussion is complemented by illuminating the crossover from a single to a double well.
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We investigate the transition of a quasi-one-dimensional few-boson system from a weakly correlated to a fragmented and finally a fermionized ground state. Our numerically exact analysis, based on a multiconfigurational method, explores the interplay between different shapes of external and interparticle forces. Specifically, we demonstrate that the addition of a central barrier to an otherwise harmonic trap may support the system's fragmentation, with a symmetry-induced distinction between even and odd atom numbers. Moreover, the impact of inhomogeneous interactions is studied, where the effective coupling strength is spatially modulated. It is laid out how the ground state can be displaced in a controlled way depending on the trap and the degree of modulation. We present the one- and two-body densities and, beyond that, highlight the role of correlations on the basis of the natural occupations.
We determine the low-energy properties of a trapped Bose gas split in two by a potential barrier over the whole range of barrier heights and asymmetry between the wells. For either weak or strong coupling between the wells, our two-mode theory yields a two-site Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian with the tunneling, interaction, and bias parameters calculated simply using an explicit form of two mode functions. When the potential barrier is relatively low, most of the particles occupy the condensate mode and our theory reduces to a two-mode version of the Bogoliubov theory, which gives a satisfactory estimate of the spatial shape and energy of the lowest collective excitation. When the barrier is high, our theory generalizes the standard two-site Bose-Hubbard model into the case of asymmetric modes, and correctly predicts a full separation of the modes in the limit of strong separation of the wells. We provide explicit analytic forms for the number squeezing and coherence as a function of particle number and temperature. We compare our theory to other two-mode theories for bosons in a double well and discuss their validity in different parameter regimes.
We study the correlation properties of the ground states of few ultracold bosons, trapped in double wells of varying barrier height in one dimension. Extending previous results on the signature of the transition from a Bose-condensed state via fragmentation to the hard-core limit, we provide a deeper understanding of that transition by relating it to the loss of coherence in the one-body density matrix and to the emerging long-range tail in the momentum spectrum. These are accounted for in detail by discussing the natural orbitals and their occupations. Our discussion is complemented by an analysis of the two-body correlation function.
We investigate the collective excitations of a single-species Bose gas at T=0T=0T=0 in a harmonic trap where the confinement undergoes some splitting along one spatial direction. We mostly consider one-dimensional potentials consisting of two harmonic wells separated by a distance 2z0{2z}_{0}2z0​, since they essentially contain all the barrier effects that one may visualize in the three-dimensional situation. We find, within a hydrodynamic approximation, that regardless of the dimensionality of the system, pairs of levels in the excitation spectrum, corresponding to neighboring even and odd excitations, merge together as one increases the barrier height up to the current value of the chemical potential. The excitation spectra computed in the hydrodynamical or Thomas-Fermi limit are compared with the results obtained from exactly solving the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We also analyze the characteristics of the spatial pattern of excitations of three-dimensional boson systems according to the amount of splitting of the condensate.