Improved numerical approach for time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii nonlinear Schroedinger equation

In the present work, we improve a numerical method, developed to solve the Gross-Pitaevkii nonlinear Schroedinger equation. A particular scaling is used in the equation, which permits to evaluate the wave-function normalization after the numerical solution. We have a two point boundary value problem, where the second point is taken at infinity. The differential equation is solved using the shooting method and Runge-Kutta integration method, requiring that the asymptotic constants, for the function and its derivative, are equal for large distances. In order to obtain fast convergence, the secant method is used.Comment: 2 figure

Temperature-induced resonances and Landau damping of collective modes in Bose-Einstein condensed gases in spherical traps

Interaction between collective monopole oscillations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate and thermal excitations is investigated by means of perturbation theory. We assume spherical symmetry to calculate the matrix elements by solving the linearized Gross-Pitaevskii equations. We use them to study the resonances of the condensate induced by temperature when an external perturbation of the trapping frequency is applied and to calculate the Landau damping of the oscillations.Comment: revtex, 9 pages, 5 figure

Landau damping in dilute Bose gases

Landau damping in weakly interacting Bose gases is investigated by means of perturbation theory. Our approach points out the crucial role played by Bose-Einstein condensation and yields an explicit expression for the decay rate of elementary excitations in both uniform and non uniform gases. Systematic results are derived for the phonon width in homogeneous gases interacting with repulsive forces. Special attention is given to the low and high temperature regimes.Comment: 11 pages, latex, 1 figure available upon request. The paper accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Glueball plus Pion Production in Photon-Photon Collisions.

We here compute the reaction $\gamma \; \gamma \rightarrow G \; \pi^{0}$ for various glueball candidates $G$ and their assumed quantum states, using a non-relativistic gluon bound-state model for the glueball.Comment: To appear in Zeit. fur Phys. C; Plain Latex file, 16 pages; 5 figures appended as a uuencoded postscript file

Boson induced s-wave pairing in dilute boson-fermion mixtures

We show that in dilute boson-fermion mixtures with fermions in two internal states, even when the bare fermion-fermion interaction is repulsive, the exchange of density fluctuations of the Bose condensate may lead to an effective fermion-fermion attraction, and thus to a Cooper instability in the s-wave channel. We give an analytical method to derive the associated $T_c$ in the limit where the phonon branch of the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum of the bosons is important. We find a $T_c$ of the same order as for a pure Fermi gas with bare attraction.Comment: 12 pages, no figure

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

Instantons and radial excitations in attractive Bose-Einstein condensates

Imaginary- and real-time versions of an equation for the condensate density are presented which describe dynamics and decay of any spherical Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) within the mean field appraoch. We obtain quantized energies of collective finite amplitude radial oscillations and exact numerical instanton solutions which describe quantum tunneling from both the metastable and radially excited states of the BEC of 7Li atoms. The mass parameter for the radial motion is found different from the gaussian value assumed hitherto, but the effect of this difference on decay exponents is small. The collective breathing states form slightly compressed harmonic spectrum, n=4 state lying lower than the second Bogolyubov (small amplitude) mode. The decay of these states, if excited, may simulate a shorter than true lifetime of the metastable state. By scaling arguments, results extend to other attractive BEC-s.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Beyond Gross-Pitaevskii:local density vs. correlated basis approach for trapped bosons

We study the ground state of a system of Bose hard-spheres trapped in an isotropic harmonic potential to investigate the effect of the interatomic correlations and the accuracy of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We compare a local density approximation, based on the energy functional derived from the low density expansion of the energy of the uniform hard sphere gas, and a correlated wave function approach which explicitly introduces the correlations induced by the potential. Both higher order terms in the low density expansion, beyond Gross-Pitaevskii, and explicit dynamical correlations have effects of the order of percent when the number of trapped particles becomes similar to that attained in recent experiments.Comment: Revtex, 2 figure

Beyond Gross-Pitaevskii:local density vs. correlated basis approach for trapped bosons

We study the ground state of a system of Bose hard-spheres trapped in an isotropic harmonic potential to investigate the effect of the interatomic correlations and the accuracy of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We compare a local density approximation, based on the energy functional derived from the low density expansion of the energy of the uniform hard sphere gas, and a correlated wave function approach which explicitly introduces the correlations induced by the potential. Both higher order terms in the low density expansion, beyond Gross-Pitaevskii, and explicit dynamical correlations have effects of the order of percent when the number of trapped particles becomes similar to that attained in recent experiments.Comment: Revtex, 2 figure

Spectral method for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap

We study the numerical resolution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a non-linear Schroedinger equation used to simulate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Considering condensates trapped in harmonic potentials, we present an efficient algorithm by making use of a spectral Galerkin method, using a basis set of harmonic oscillator functions, and the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We apply this algorithm to the simulation of condensate breathing and scissors modes.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure