Two interacting fermions in a 1D harmonic trap: matching the Bethe ansatz and variational approaches

In this work, combining the Bethe ansatz approach with the variational principle, we calculate the ground state energy of the relative motion of a system of two fermions with spin up and down interacting via a delta-function potential in a 1D harmonic trap. Our results show good agreement with the analytical solution of the problem, and provide a starting point for the investigation of more complex few-body systems where no exact theoretical solution is available.

Quantum phase transitions in Bose-Einstein condensates from a Bethe ansatz perspective

We investigate two solvable models for Bose-Einstein condensates and extract physical information by studying the structure of the solutions of their Bethe ansatz equations. A careful observation of these solutions for the ground state of both models, as we vary some parameters of the Hamiltonian, suggests a connection between the behavior of the roots of the Bethe ansatz equations and the physical behavior of the models. Then, by the use of standard techniques for approaching quantum phase transition - gap, entanglement and fidelity - we find that the change in the scenery in the roots of the Bethe ansatz equations is directly related to a quantum phase transition, thus providing an alternative method for its detection.