No Arabic abstract
We unravel the correlation effects of the second-order quantum phase transitions emerging on the ground state of a harmonically trapped spin-1 Bose gas, upon varying the involved Zeeman terms, as well as its breathing dynamics triggered by quenching the trapping frequency. It is found that the boundaries of the associated magnetic phases are altered in the presence of interparticle correlations for both ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic spin-spin interactions, an effect which becomes more prominent in the few-body scenario. Most importantly, we unveil a correlation-induced shrinking of the anti-ferromagnetic and broken-axisymmetry phases implying that ground states with bosons polarized in a single spin-component are favored. Turning to the dynamical response of the spinor gas it is shown that its breathing frequency is independent of the system parameters while correlations lead to the formation of filamentary patterns in the one-body density of the participating components. The number of filaments is larger for increasing spin-independent interaction strengths or for smaller particle numbers. Each filament maintains its coherence and exhibits an anti-correlated behavior while distinct filaments show significant losses of coherence and are two-body correlated. Interestingly, we demonstrate that for an initial broken-axisymmetry phase an enhanced spin-flip dynamics takes place which can be tuned either via the linear Zeeman term or the quench amplitude.
The beyond mean-field dynamics of a bent dark soliton embedded in a two-dimensional repulsively interacting Bose-Einstein condensate is explored. We examine the case of a single bent dark soliton comparing the mean-field dynamics to a correlated approach, the Multi-Configuration Time-Dependent Hartree method for Bosons. Dynamical snaking of this bent structure is observed, signaling the onset of fragmentation which becomes significant during the vortex nucleation. In contrast to the mean-field approximation filling of the vortex core is observed, leading in turn to the formation of filled-core vortices, instead of the mean-field vortex-antivortex pairs. The resulting smearing effect in the density is a rather generic feature, occurring when solitonic structures are exposed to quantum fluctuations. Here, we show that this filling owes its existence to the dynamical building of an antidark structure developed in the next-to-leading order orbital. We further demonstrate that the aforementioned beyond mean-field dynamics can be experimentally detected using the variance of single shot measurements. Additionally, a variety of excitations including vortices, oblique dark solitons, and open ring dark soliton-like structures building upon higher-lying orbitals is observed. We demonstrate that signatures of the higher-lying orbital excitations emerge in the total density, and can be clearly captured by inspecting the one-body coherence. In the latter context, the localization of one-body correlations exposes the existence of the multi-orbital vortex-antidark structure.
The static properties, i.e., existence and stability, as well as the quench-induced dynamics of nonlinear excitations of the vortex-bright type appearing in two-dimensional harmonically confined spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates are investigated. Linearly stable vortex-bright-vortex and bright-vortex-bright solutions arise in both antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic spinor gases upon quadratic Zeeman energy shift variations. The precessional motion of such coherent structures is subsequently monitored dynamically. Deformations of the above configurations across the relevant transitions are exposed and discussed in detail. It is further found that stationary states involving highly quantized vortices can be realized in both settings. Spatial elongations, precessional motion and spiraling of the nonlinear excitations when exposed to finite temperatures and upon crossing the distinct phase boundaries, via quenching of the quadratic Zeeman coefficient, are unveiled. Spin-mixing processes triggered by the quench lead, among others, to changes in the waveform of the ensuing configurations. Our findings reveal an interplay between pattern formation and spin-mixing processes being accessible in contemporary cold atom experiments.
Excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) extend the notion of quantum phase transitions beyond the ground state. They are characterized by closing energy gaps amid the spectrum. Identifying order parameters for ESQPTs poses however a major challenge. We introduce spinor Bose-Einstein condensates as a versatile platform for studies of ESQPTs. Based on the mean-field dynamics, we define a topological order parameter that distinguishes between excited-state phases, and discuss how to interferometrically access the order parameter in current experiments. Our work opens the way for the experimental characterization of excited-state quantum phases in atomic many-body systems.
This review explores the dynamics and the low-energy excitation spectra of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of interacting bosons in external potential traps putting particular emphasis on the emerging many-body effects beyond mean-field descriptions. To do so, methods have to be used that, in principle, can provide numerically exact results for both the dynamics and the excitation spectra in a systematic manner. Numerically exact results for the dynamics are presented employing the well-established multicongurational time-dependent Hartree for bosons (MCTDHB) method. The respective excitation spectra are calculated utilizing the more recently introduced linear-response theory atop it (LR-MCTDHB). The latter theory gives rise to an, in general, non-hermitian eigenvalue problem. The theory and its newly developed implementation are described in detail and benchmarked towards the exactly-solvable harmonic-interaction model. Several applications to BECs in one- and two-dimensional potential traps are discussed. With respect to dynamics, it is shown that both the out-of-equilibrium tunneling dynamics and the dynamics of trapped vortices are of many-body nature. Furthermore, many-body effects in the excitation spectra are presented for BECs in different trap geometries. It is demonstrated that even for essentially-condensed systems, the spectrum of the lowest-in-energy excitations computed at the many-body level can differ substantially from the standard mean-field description. In general, it is shown that bosons carrying angular momentum are more sensitive to many-body effects than bosons without. These effects are present in both the dynamics and the excitation spectrum.
In this work, we explore systematically various SO(2)-rotation-induced multiple dark-dark soliton breathing patterns obtained from stationary and spectrally stable multiple dark-bright and dark-dark waveforms in trapped one-dimensional, two-component atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The stationary states stem from the associated linear limits (as the eigenfunctions of the quantum harmonic oscillator problem) and are parametrically continued to the nonlinear regimes by varying the respective chemical potentials, i.e., from the low-density linear limits to the high-density Thomas-Fermi regimes. We perform a Bogolyubov-de Gennes (BdG) spectral stability analysis to identify stable parametric regimes of these states. Upon SO(2)-rotation, the stable steady-states, one-, two-, three-, four-, and many dark-dark soliton breathing patterns are observed in the numerical simulations. Furthermore, analytic solutions up to three dark-bright solitons in the homogeneous setting, and three-component systems are also investigated.