1,182 research outputs found
Inhibition of spontaneous emission in Fermi gases
Fermi inhibition is a quantum statistical analogue for the inhibition of
spontaneous emission by an excited atom in a cavity. This is achieved when the
relevant motional states are already occupied by a cloud of cold atoms in the
internal ground state. We exhibit non-trivial effects at finite temperature and
in anisotropic traps, and briefly consider a possible experimental realization.Comment: 4 pages with 3 figure
Condensates beyond mean field theory: quantum backreaction as decoherence
We propose an experiment to measure the slow log(N) convergence to mean-field
theory (MFT) around a dynamical instability. Using a density matrix formalism,
we derive equations of motion which go beyond MFT and provide accurate
predictions for the quantum break-time. The leading quantum corrections appear
as decoherence of the reduced single-particle quantum state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Second Josephson excitations beyond mean field as a toy model for thermal pressure: exact quantum dynamics and the quantum phase model
A simple four-mode Bose-Hubbard model with intrinsic time scale separation
can be considered as a paradigm for mesoscopic quantum systems in thermal
contact. In our previous work we showed that in addition to coherent particle
exchange, a novel slow collective excitation can be identified by a series of
Holstein-Primakoff transformations. This resonant energy exchange mode is not
predicted by linear Bogoliubov theory, and its frequency is sensitive to
interactions among Bogoliubov quasi-particles; it may be referred to as a
second Josephson oscillation, in analogy to the second sound mode of liquid
Helium II. In this paper we will explore this system beyond the
Gross-Pitaevskii mean field regime. We directly compare the classical mean
field dynamics to the exact full quantum many-particle dynamics and show good
agreement over a large range of the system parameters. The second Josephson
frequency becomes imaginary for stronger interactions, however, indicating
dynamical instability of the symmetric state. By means of a generalized quantum
phase model for the full four-mode system, we then show that, in this regime,
high-energy Bogoliubov quasiparticles tend to accumulate in one pair of sites,
while the actual particles preferentially occupy the opposite pair. We
interpret this as a simple model for thermal pressure
Introduction to This Special Issue: Faculty Intellectual Property in the Digital Age
(First paragraph) Prior to the third generation of distance education that is described as telelearning (Taylor 1995) or teleconferencing (Moore and Kearsley 1996), there were few questions about the ownership of a faculty memberâs intellectual property. It was extremely rare for an institution to claim ownership of a professorâs class materials whether lecture notes, flip charts, overhead transparencies, audio and video recording, monographs, handouts or tests. With the advent of Internet-based distance education delivery systems including 2-way audio and video as well as online courses, the issue of intellectual property ownership has grown complex
Dynamics of a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate beyond mean-field theory
We study the dynamics of a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate in the vicinity
of a mean-field dynamical instability. Convergence to mean-field theory (MFT),
with increasing total number of particles , is shown to be logarithmically
slow. Using a density matrix formalism rather than the conventional
wavefunction methods, we derive an improved set of equations of motion for the
mean-field plus the fluctuations, which goes beyond MFT and provides accurate
predictions for the leading quantum corrections and the quantum break time. We
show that the leading quantum corrections appear as decoherence of the reduced
single-particle quantum state; we also compare this phenomenon to the effects
of thermal noise. Using the rapid dephasing near an instability, we propose a
method for the direct measurement of scattering lengths.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, Phys. Rev. A 64, 0136XX (2001
Deconstructing Decoherence
The study of environmentally induced superselection and of the process of
decoherence was originally motivated by the search for the emergence of
classical behavior out of the quantum substrate, in the macroscopic limit. This
limit, and other simplifying assumptions, have allowed the derivation of
several simple results characterizing the onset of environmentally induced
superselection; but these results are increasingly often regarded as a complete
phenomenological characterization of decoherence in any regime. This is not
necessarily the case: The examples presented in this paper counteract this
impression by violating several of the simple ``rules of thumb''. This is
relevant because decoherence is now beginning to be tested experimentally, and
one may anticipate that, in at least some of the proposed applications (e.g.,
quantum computers), only the basic principle of ``monitoring by the
environment'' will survive. The phenomenology of decoherence may turn out to be
significantly different.Comment: 13 two-column pages, 3 embedded figure
Instabilities of wave function monopoles in Bose-Einstein condensates
We present analytic and numerical results for a class of monopole solutions
to the two-component Gross-Pitaevski equation for a two-species Bose condensate
in an effectively two-dimensional trap. We exhibit dynamical instabilities
involving vortex production as one species pours through another, from which we
conclude that the sub-optical sharpness of potentials exerted by matter waves
makes condensates ideal tools for manipulating condensates. We also show that
there are two equally valid but drastically different hydrodynamic descriptions
of a two-component condensate, and illustrate how different phenomena may
appear simpler in each.Comment: 4 pages, 9 figures (compressed figures become legible when zoomed or
when paper is actually printed
Quantum effects on the dynamics of a two-mode atom-molecule Bose-Einstein condensate
We study the system of coupled atomic and molecular condensates within the
two-mode model and beyond mean-field theory (MFT). Large amplitude
atom-molecule coherent oscillations are shown to be damped by the rapid growth
of fluctuations near the dynamically unstable molecular mode. This result
contradicts earlier predictions about the recovery of atom-molecule
oscillations in the two-mode limit. The frequency of the damped oscillation is
also shown to scale as with the total number of atoms ,
rather than the expected pure scaling. Using a linearized model, we
obtain analytical expressions for the initial depletion of the molecular
condensate in the vicinity of the instability, and show that the important
effect neglected by mean field theory is an initially non-exponential
`spontaneous' dissociation into the atomic vacuum. Starting with a small
population in the atomic mode, the initial dissociation rate is sensitive to
the exact atomic amplitudes, with the fastest (super-exponential) rate observed
for the entangled state, formed by spontaneous dissociation.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages, 3 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX and epsfig,
submitted to Physical Review A, Rapid Communication
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