Granulation of quantum matter -- the formation of persistent small-scale patterns -- is realized in the images of quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates perturbed by a periodically modulated interaction. Our present analysis of a mean-field approximation suggests that granulation is caused by the gradual transformation of phase undulations into density undulations. This is achieved by a suitably large modulation frequency, while for low enough frequencies the system exhibits a quasi-adiabatic regime. We show that the persistence of granulation is a result of the irregular evolution of the phase of the wavefunction representing an irreversible process. Our model predictions agree with numerical solutions of the Schrodinger equation and experimental observations. The numerical computations reveal the emergent many-body correlations behind these phenomena via the multi-configurational time-dependent Hartree theory for bosons (MCTDHB).
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