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arXiv:cond-mat/9908147 · International Journal of Modern Physics B

TIME-DEPENDENT VARIATIONAL APPROACH TO BOSE–EINSTEIN CONDENSATION

Luca Salasnich

Published Jan 10, 2000• 43 citations
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Abstract

We discuss the mean-field approximation for a trapped weakly-interacting Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) and its connection with the exact many-body problem by deriving the Gross–Pitaevskii action of the condensate. The mechanics of the BEC in a harmonic potential is studied by using a variational approach with time-dependent Gaussian trial wave-functions. In particular, we analyze the static configurations, the stability and the collective oscillations for both ground-state and vortices.

DOI
10.1142/s0217979200000029

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Physical Review A•Jan 31, 2007•5 citations
We discuss the mean-field approximation for a trapped weakly-interacting Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) and its connection with the exact many-body problem by deriving the Gross–Pitaevskii action of the condensate. The mechanics of the BEC in a harmonic potential is studied by using a variational approach with time-dependent Gaussian trial wave-functions. In particular, we analyze the static configurations, the stability and the collective oscillations for both ground-state and vortices.
The nonlinear dynamics of self-bound Bose–Einstein matter waves under the action of an attractive nonlocal and a repulsive local interaction is analyzed by means of a time-dependent variational formalism. The mean-field model described by the Gross–Pitaevskii equation (GPE) is reduced to a single second-order conservative ordinary differential equation admitting a potential function. The stable fixed points and the linear oscillation frequencies of the breather modes are determined. The chosen nonlocal interactions are a Gaussian-shaped potential and a van der Waals-like potential. The variational solutions are compared with direct numerical simulations of the GPE, for each of these nonlocalities. The spatio-temporal frequency spectra of linear waves are also determined.
A Bose–Einstein condensate in a double-well potential is considered by using the Feynman path integral theory combined with a variational approach. The system consists of N interacting bosons confined in the double well which is taken as a harmonic potential with a Gaussian barrier. The calculation is carried out within the first cumulant approximation measured with respect to the harmonic action containing variational parameters. Assuming a separable expression for the trial action corresponds to the usual mean field approximation. Performing the variational calculations, we obtain analytical results for the ground state energy and its condensate wavefunction. Using a projection onto the odd contributions, the first excited state energy and condensate wavefunction are determined, too. We find very good agreement with a full numerical solution of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation over the full range of potential parameters.
We derive a unified set of scaling equations for Bose-Einstein condensates in time-dependent harmonic traps, connecting the weakly interacting Gaussian regime to the strongly interacting Thomas-Fermi regime. The exact Gross-Pitaevskii ground-state density is taken as a fixed profile in rescaled coordinates, with its dynamics described by three scaling factors corresponding to compression or expansion along the three spatial directions. The resulting equations contain no adjustable parameter, since their coefficients are determined once from the initial state. They recover analytically the Gaussian variational and Thomas-Fermi scaling equations in their respective limits and satisfy an axis-resolved virial theorem. The approach also yields the global phase and the low-lying collective-mode frequencies of the condensate. We benchmark the model against three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii simulations and against measured expansion energies. The model remains accurate across all interaction regimes, in strongly anisotropic traps, and along time-dependent sequences including a relatively fast quench, up to the point where the underlying frozen-profile hypothesis, shared by all three scaling approaches, breaks down.
We solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation by a variational ansatz to calculate the excitation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a trap. The trial wave function is a Gaussian which allows an essentially analytical treatment of the problem. Our results reproduce numerical calculations over the whole range from small to large particle numbers, and agree exactly with the Stringari results in the strong interaction limit. Excellent agreement is obtained with the recent JILA experiment and predictions for the negative scattering length case are also made.
The experimental discovery of dilute ultracold quantum gases in 1995 has instigated a broad interest in ultracold atoms and molecules, and paved the way for extensive studies of a wide range of both experimental and theoretical topics. Various theories were developed to describe Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) for different ranges of temperature and interaction strengths. This thesis focuses on studying the mean-field theory of the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation which provides a good description for the macroscopic wave function when both quantum and thermal fluctuations are negligible. This means that the range of validity is restricted to small interaction strengths at zero temperature. Within the GP theory we study analytically and numerically the nonlinear dynamics of BECs which are induced by a harmonic modulation of either the interaction strength or the harmonic trapping potential. At first a detailed numerical investigation reveals that solving the partial differential equation of Gross and Pitaevskii can be reduced to solving ordinary differential equations for the condensate widths within a Gaussian variational approach. Despite this tremendous simplification the prominent nonlinearity of the underlying GP equation is inherited by the variational equations, which thus allow to describe a rich variety of nonlinear phenomena in different experimental setups. In order to describe them analytically we transfer the Poincar\'e-Lindstedt method, which represents a well-established tool in the field of nonlinear dynamics, to the Gaussian variational approach. Modulation of some of the parameters of a BEC can give rise to prominent nonlinear features, such as shifts in the frequencies of collective oscillation modes, higher harmonics generation, and resonant mode coupling. As a first application we consider a recent Bose-Einstein condensate of Li-7, which has been excited experimentally by a harmonic modulation of the atomic s-wave scattering length with the help of a Feshbach resonance. Combining an analytical perturbative approach with extensive numerical simulations, we analyze the emerging nonlinear dynamics. In particular, we present the resulting shift of collective excitation spectra close to parametric resonances where the driving frequency coincides with a collective mode frequency. Another application of experimental importance is to study geometric resonances in BECs with two-body and three-body contact interactions, where changing the geometry of the trapping potential leads to commensurate collective excitation frequencies with emerging nonlinear effects such as frequency shifts and resonant mode coupling. In this context we also show that a small repulsive three-body interaction is able to extend the stability region of the condensate for an attractive two-body interaction as it increases the critical number of atoms in the trap. Apart from a periodic modulation of a system parameter the dipole mode frequency can be excited by introducing an abrupt change in the potential, where the center of mass oscillates according to the Kohn theorem back and forth in the trapping potential with the natural trap frequency irrespective of both the strength and the type of the two-particle interaction. To this end, we study the collective excitation modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic Ioffe- Pritchard in the vicinity of a Feshbach resonance for experimentally realistic parameters of a Rb-85 BEC, where the dipole mode is excited in z-direction. A linearization of the underlying equations of motions shows that the dipole mode frequency decreases when the bias magnetic field approaches the Feshbach resonance, so the Kohn theorem is violated. Finally within a variational approach we discuss the physical properties of a BEC in an axially-symmetric harmonic trap with a single vortex in the center. At first we analyze the equilibrium configuration and determine the vortex size as well as the Thomas- Fermi radii of the condensate in the Thomas-Fermi limit. Then we calculate the critical rotation frequency for the emergence of the vortex and compare our findings with the literature. Finally, we investigate how the presence of the vortex changes the collective excitation frequencies and we discuss the free expansion of the BEC. All these results indicate how nonlinear dynamics properties could be made clearly observable in future experiments on the basis of our results.
We develop an analytical approach for calculating the Landau damping of collective modes in the Bose-Einstein condensate trapped by an anisotropic harmonic potential. Based on a variational ground-state wave function obtained by solving the time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii equation beyond Thomas-Fermi approximation, we solve the Bogoliubov--de Gennes equations describing thermal excited quasiparticles and provide divergence-free analytical solutions for the Bogoliubov amplitudes and coupling matrix elements that characterize the interaction between the collective modes and the quasiparticles. With these analytical results we evaluate the Landau damping rates of several collective modes for various anisotropic parameters of the trapping potential in terms of the formulas derived from a time-dependent mean-field theory. In addition, we discuss the dependence of the damping rates on temperature, particle number, trapping frequency, and anisotropic parameter of the system, and compare our theoretical results with experimental and numerical data reported in literature.