2,180 research outputs found
Quantum liquid-crystal order in resonant atomic gases
I review recent studies that predict quantum liquid-crystalline orders in
resonant atomic gases. As examples of such putative systems I will discuss an
s-wave resonant imbalanced Fermi gas and a p-wave resonant Bose gas. In the
former, the liquid-crystalline smectic, nematic and rich variety of other
descendant states emerge from strongly quantum- and thermally- fluctuating
Fulde-Ferrell and Larkin-Ovchinnikov states, driven by a competition between
resonant pairing and Fermi-surface mismatch. In the latter, at intermediate
detuning the p-wave resonant interaction generically drives Bose-condensation
at a finite momentum, set by a competition between atomic kinetic energy and
atom-molecule hybridization. Because of the underlying rotationally-invariant
environment of the atomic gas trapped isotropically, the putative striped
superfluid is a realization of a quantum superfluid smectic, that can melt into
a variety of interesting phases, such as a quantum nematic. I will discuss the
corresponding rich phase diagrams and transitions, as well the low-energy
properties of the phases and fractional topological defects generic to striped
superfluids and their fluctuation-driven descendants.Comment: Invited Review, 25 pages, 17 figure
The contact geometry of the restricted 3-body problem
We show that the planar circular restricted three body problem is of
restricted contact type for all energies below the first critical value (action
of the first Lagrange point) and for energies slightly above it. This opens up
the possibility of using the technology of Contact Topology to understand this
particular dynamical system.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figur
Spin textures in slowly rotating Bose-Einstein Condensates
Slowly rotating spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates are studied through a
variational approach based upon lowest Landau level calculus. The author finds
that in a gas with ferromagnetic interactions, such as Rb, angular
momentum is predominantly carried by clusters of two different types of
skyrmion textures in the spin-vector order parameter. Conversely, in a gas with
antiferromagnetic interactions, such as Na, angular momentum is carried
by -disclinations in the nematic order parameter which arises from spin
fluctuations. For experimentally relevant parameters, the cores of these
-disclinations are ferromagnetic, and can be imaged with polarized light.Comment: 14 pages, 12 low resolution bitmapped figures, RevTeX4. High
resolution figures available from author. Suplementary movies available from
autho
- …