Recent Feshbach-resonance experiments with 85Rb Bose-Einstein condensates have led to a host of unexplained results: dramatic losses of condensate atoms for an across-resonance sweep of the magnetic field, a collapsing condensate with a burst of atoms emanating from the remnant condensate, increased losses for decreasing interaction times, and seemingly coherently oscillations between remnant and burst atoms. Using a simple yet realistic mean-field model, we find that rogue dissociation – molecular dissociation to noncondensate atom pairs – is strongly implicated as the physical mechanism responsible for these observations. Typeset using REVTEX 1 Introduction – The process known as the Feshbach resonance [1] occurs at a proper value of the magnetic field when two ultracold atoms collide in such a way that the spin of one of the atoms flips and the atom pair jumps from the two-atom continuum to a quasibound molecular state. If the initial atoms are Bose-condensed [2], the so-formed molecules wil
To submit an update or takedown request for this paper, please submit an Update/Correction/Removal Request.
