Bosons in anisotropic traps: ground state and vortices

We solve the Gross-Pitaevskii equations for a dilute atomic gas in a magnetic trap, modeled by an anisotropic harmonic potential. We evaluate the wave function and the energy of the Bose Einstein condensate as a function of the particle number, both for positive and negative scattering length. The results for the transverse and vertical size of the cloud of atoms, as well as for the kinetic and potential energy per particle, are compared with the predictions of approximated models. We also compare the aspect ratio of the velocity distribution with first experimental estimates available for $^{87}$Rb. Vortex states are considered and the critical angular velocity for production of vortices is calculated. We show that the presence of vortices significantly increases the stability of the condensate in the case of attractive interactions.Comment: 22 pages, REVTEX, 8 figures available upon request or at http://anubis.science.unitn.it/~dalfovo/papers/papers.htm

Small-amplitude normal modes of a vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate

We consider a cylindrically symmetric trap containing a small Bose-Einstein condensate with a singly quantized vortex on the axis of symmetry. A time-dependent variational Lagrangian analysis yields the small-amplitude dynamics of the vortex and the condensate, directly determining the equations of motion of the coupled normal modes. As found previously from the Bogoliubov equations, there are two rigid dipole modes and one anomalous mode with a negative frequency when seen in the laboratory frame.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, Revte

Interaction of pulses in nonlinear Schroedinger model

The interaction of two rectangular pulses in nonlinear Schroedinger model is studied by solving the appropriate Zakharov-Shabat system. It is shown that two real pulses may result in appearance of moving solitons. Different limiting cases, such as a single pulse with a phase jump, a single chirped pulse, in-phase and out-of-phase pulses, and pulses with frequency separation, are analyzed. The thresholds of creation of new solitons and multi-soliton states are found.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Accepted to Phys. Rev. E, 200

Dyson processes on the octonion algebra

We consider Brownian motion on symmetric matrices of octonions, and study the law of the spectrum. Due to the fact that the octonion algebra is nonassociative, the dimension of the matrices plays a special role. We provide two specific models on octonions, which give some indication of the relation between the multiplicity of eigenvalues and the exponent in the law of the spectrum

Remote identification of sheep with flystrike using behavioural observations

Flystrike is a major problem affecting sheep in Australia. Identification of ‘flystruck’ individuals is crucial for treatment; but requires labour-intensive physical examination. As the industry moves toward more low-input systems; there is a need for remote methods to identify flystruck individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the behaviour of sheep with breech flystrike within a paddock setting. Video footage of sixteen Merino sheep; eight later confirmed with flystrike and eight without; was collected as they moved freely within the paddock with conspecifics. Quantitative behavioural measurements and a qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) were conducted and compared to their breech conditions (i.e., faecal/urine staining; flystrike severity). Both qualitative and quantitative assessments indicated behavioural differences between flystruck and non-flystruck animals. Flystruck sheep had a behavioural profile characterised by restless behaviour; abnormal postures and reduced grazing time (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Furthermore; flystruck sheep were scored to have a more ‘exhausted/irritated’ demeanour using QBA (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The behavioural responses also corresponded to the flystrike severity scores and condition of the breech area. We conclude that remotely assessed behaviour of flystruck sheep diverges markedly from non-flystruck sheep; and thus could be a low-input method for identifying and treating affected animals

Macroscopic Quantum Fluctuations in the Josephson Dynamics of Two Weakly Linked Bose-Einstein Condensates

We study the quantum corrections to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for two weakly linked Bose-Einstein condensates. The goals are: 1) to investigate dynamical regimes at the borderline between the classical and quantum behaviour of the bosonic field; 2) to search for new macroscopic quantum coherence phenomena not observable with other superfluid/superconducting systems. Quantum fluctuations renormalize the classical Josephson oscillation frequencies. Large amplitude phase oscillations are modulated, exhibiting collapses and revivals. We describe a new inter-well oscillation mode, with a vanishing (ensemble averaged) mean value of the observables, but with oscillating mean square fluctuations. Increasing the number of condensate atoms, we recover the classical Gross-Pitaevskii (Josephson) dynamics, without invoking the symmetry-breaking of the Gauge invariance.Comment: Submitte

Momentum-Transfer to and Elementary-Excitations of a Bose-Einstein Condensate by a Time-Dependent Optical Potential

We present results of calculations on Bose-Einstein condensed $^{87}$Rb atoms subjected to a moving standing-wave light-potential of the form $V_L(z,t) = V_0(t) \cos(q z-\omega t)$. We calculate the mean-field dynamics (the order paramter) of the condensate and determine the resulting condensate momentum in the $z$ direction, $P_z(q,\omega,V_0,t_p)$, where $V_0$ is the peak optical potential strength and $t_p$ is the pulse duration. Although the local density approximation for the Bogoliubov excitation spectral distribution is a good approximation for very low optical intensities, long pulse duration and sufficiently large values of the wavevector $q$ of the light-potential, for small $q$, short duration pulses, or for not-so-low intensities, the local density perturbative description of the excitation spectrum breaks down badly, as shown by our results.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Vortex states in binary mixture of Bose-Einstein condensates

The vortex configurations in the Bose-Einstein condensate of the mixture of two different spin states |F=1,m_f=-1> and |2,1> of ^{87}Rb atoms corresponding to the recent experiments by Matthews et. al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2498 (1999)) are considered in the framework of the Thomas-Fermi approximation as functions of N_2/N_1, where N_1 is the number of atoms in the state |1,-1> and N_2 - in the state |2,1>. It is shown that for nonrotating condensates the configuration with the |1,-1> fluid forming the shell about the |2,1> fluid (configuration "a") has lower energy than the opposite configuration (configuration "b") for all values of N_2/N_1. When the |1,-1> fluid has net angular momentum and forms an equatorial ring around the resting central condensate |2,1>, the total energy of the system is higher than the ground energy, but the configuration "a" has lower energy than the configuration "b" for all N_2/N_1. On the other hand, when the |2> fluid has the net angular momentum, for the lowest value of the angular momentum \hbar l (l=1) there is the range of the ratio N_2/N_1 where the configuration "b" has lower energy than the configuration "a". For higher values of the angular momentum the configuration "b" is stable for all values of N_2/N_1.Comment: minor changes, references adde

Semiclassical Solution of the Quantum Hydrodynamic Equation for Trapped Bose-condensed Gas in the l=0 Case

In this paper the quantum hydrodynamic equation describing the collective, low energy excitations of a dilute atomic Bose gas in a given trapping potential is investigated with the JWKB semiclassical method. In the case of spherically symmetric harmonic confining potential a good agreement is shown between the semiclassical and the exact energy eigenvalues as well as wave functions. It is also demonstrated that for larger quantum numbers the calculation of the semiclassical wave function is numerically more stable than the exact polynomial with large alternating coefficients.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Regulating atomic imbalance in double-well lattices

An insulating optical lattice with double-well sites is considered. In the case of the unity filling factor, an effective Hamiltonian in the pseudospin representation is derived. A method is suggested for manipulating the properties of the system by varying the shape of the double-well potential. In particular, it is shown that the atomic imbalance can be varied at will and a kind of the Morse-alphabet sequences can be created.Comment: Latex file, 12 pages, 3 figure