120 research outputs found
A strongly interacting Bose gas: Nozi\`eres and Schmitt-Rink theory and beyond
We calculate the critical temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas
of bosonic atoms across a Feshbach resonance, and show how medium effects at
negative scattering lengths give rise to pairs reminiscent of the ones
responsible for fermionic superfluidity. We find that the formation of pairs
leads to a large suppression of the critical temperature. Within the formalism
developed by Nozieres and Schmitt-Rink the gas appears mechanically stable
throughout the entire crossover region, but when interactions between pairs are
taken into account we show that the gas becomes unstable close to the critical
temperature. We discuss prospects of observing these effects in a gas of
ultracold Cs133 atoms where recent measurements indicate that the gas may be
sufficiently long-lived to explore the many-body physics around a Feshbach
resonance.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX. Significantly expanded to include effects
beyond NS
Twin peaks in rf spectra of Fermi gases at unitarity
We calculate the radio-frequency spectrum of balanced and imbalanced
ultracold Fermi gases in the normal phase at unitarity.
For the homogeneous case the spectrum of both the majority and minority
components always has a single peak even in the pseudogap regime.
We furthermore show how the double-peak structures observed in recent
experiments arise due to the inhomogeneity of the trapped gas.
The main experimental features observed above the critical temperature in the
recent experiment of Schunck et al. [Science 316, 867, (2007)] are recovered
with no fitting parameters.Comment: v3: version accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in PRA.
With respect to v2, minor changes in the text and in the inset of Fig.
Spin polarons and molecules in strongly-interacting atomic Fermi gases
We examine pairing and molecule formation in strongly-interacting Fermi
gases, and we discuss how radio-frequency (RF) spectroscopy can reveal these
features.
For the balanced case, the emergence of stable molecules in the BEC regime
results in a two-peak structure in the RF spectrum with clearly visible medium
effects on the low-energy part of the molecular wavefunction.
For the highly-imbalanced case, we show the existence of a well-defined
quasiparticle (a spin polaron) on both sides of the Feshbach resonance, we
evaluate its lifetime, and we illustrate how its energy may be measured by RF
spectroscopy.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Revised version accepted for publication: minor
changes to Fig. 2 (added inset with the chemical potential at unitarity), to
Fig. 3 (experimental data updated), and to the notatio
A Hybrid Lagrangian Variation Method for Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices
Solving the Gross--Pitaevskii (GP) equation describing a Bose--Einstein
condensate (BEC) immersed in an optical lattice potential can be a numerically
demanding task. We present a variational technique for providing fast, accurate
solutions of the GP equation for systems where the external potential exhibits
rapid varation along one spatial direction. Examples of such systems include a
BEC subjected to a one--dimensional optical lattice or a Bragg pulse. This
variational method is a hybrid form of the Lagrangian Variational Method for
the GP equation in which a hybrid trial wavefunction assumes a gaussian form in
two coordinates while being totally unspecified in the third coordinate. The
resulting equations of motion consist of a quasi--one--dimensional GP equation
coupled to ordinary differential equations for the widths of the transverse
gaussians. We use this method to investigate how an optical lattice can be used
to move a condensate non--adiabatically.Comment: 16 pages and 1 figur
Feshbach Resonances and Medium Effects in ultracold atomic Gases
We develop an effective low energy theory for multi-channel scattering of
cold atomic alkali atoms with particular focus on Feshbach resonances. The
scattering matrix is expressed in terms of observables only and the theory
allows for the inclusion of many-body effects both in the open and in the
closed channels.
We then consider the frequency and damping of collective modes for Fermi
gases and demonstrate how medium effects significantly increase the scattering
rate determining the nature of the modes. Our results obtained with no fitting
parameters are shown to compare well with experimental data.Comment: Presented at the 5th workshop on Critical Stability, Erice, Italy
13-17 October 2008. 8 pages, 3 figures. Figure caption correcte
Topological superfluids on a lattice with non-Abelian gauge fields
Two-component fermionic superfluids on a lattice with an external non-Abelian
gauge field give access to a variety of topological phases in presence of a
sufficiently large spin imbalance. We address here the important issue of
superfluidity breakdown induced by spin imbalance by a self-consistent
calculation of the pairing gap, showing which of the predicted phases will be
experimentally accessible. We present the full topological phase diagram, and
we analyze the connection between Chern numbers and the existence of
topologically protected and non-protected edge modes. The Chern numbers are
calculated via a very efficient and simple method.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures to be published in Europhysics Letter
Atomic wave packet dynamics in finite time-dependent optical lattices
Atomic wave packets in optical lattices which are both spatially finite and
time-dependent exhibit many striking similarities with light pulses in photonic
crystals. We analytically characterize the transmission properties of such a
potential geometry for an ideal gas in terms of a position-dependent band
structure. In particular, we find that at specific energies, wave packets at
the center of the finite lattice may be enclosed by pairs of band gaps. These
act as mirrors between which the atomic wave packet is reflected, thereby
effectively yielding a matter wave cavity. We show that long trapping times may
be obtained in such a resonator and investigate the collapse and revival
dynamics of the atomic wave packet by numerical evaluation of the Schr\"odinger
equation
Repulsive polarons and itinerant ferromagnetism in strongly polarized Fermi gases
We analyze the properties of a single impurity immersed in a Fermi sea. At
positive energy and scattering lengths, we show that the system possesses a
well-defined but metastable excitation, the repulsive polaron, and we calculate
its energy, quasiparticle residue and effective mass. From a thermodynamic
argument we obtain the number of particles in the dressing cloud, illustrating
the repulsive character of the polaron. Identifying the important 2- and 3-body
decay channels, we furthermore calculate the lifetime of the repulsive polaron.
The stability conditions for the formation of fully spin polarized
(ferromagnetic) domains are then examined for a binary mixture of atoms with a
general mass ratio. Our results indicate that mass imbalance lowers the
critical interaction strength for phase-separation, but that very short
quasiparticle decay times will complicate the experimental observation of
itinerant ferromagnetism. Finally, we present the spectral function of the
impurity for various coupling strengths and momenta.Comment: Substantial improvements to the section describing quasiparticle
decays (included a discussion of two-body and three-body processes), and to
the criteria for the stability of the itinerant ferromagnetic phas
The Toxicity of a Mutant Prion Protein Is Cell-Autonomous, and Can Be Suppressed by Wild-Type Prion Protein on Adjacent Cells
Insight into the normal function of PrPC, and how it can be subverted to produce neurotoxic effects, is provided by PrP molecules carrying deletions encompassing the conserved central region. The most neurotoxic of these mutants, Î105â125 (called ÎCR), produces a spontaneous neurodegenerative illness when expressed in transgenic mice, and this phenotype can be dose-dependently suppressed by co-expression of wild-type PrP. Whether the toxic activity of ÎCR PrP and the protective activity or wild-type PrP are cell-autonomous, or can be exerted on neighboring cells, is unknown. To investigate this question, we have utilized co-cultures of differentiated neural stem cells derived from mice expressing ÎCR or wild-type PrP. Cells from the two kinds of mice, which are marked by the presence or absence of GFP, are differentiated together to yield neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. As a surrogate read-out of ÎCR PrP toxicity, we assayed sensitivity of the cells to the cationic antibiotic, Zeocin. In a previous study, we reported that cells expressing ÎCR PrP are hypersensitive to the toxic effects of several cationic antibiotics, an effect that is suppressed by co-expression of wild type PrP, similar to the rescue of the neurodegenerative phenotype observed in transgenic mice. Using this system, we find that while ÎCR-dependent toxicity is cell-autonomous, the rescuing activity of wild-type PrP can be exerted in trans from nearby cells. These results provide important insights into how ÎCR PrP subverts a normal physiological function of PrPC, and the cellular mechanisms underlying the rescuing process
Spin effects in Bose-Glass phases
We study the mechanism of formation of Bose glass (BG) phases in the spin-1
Bose Hubbard model when diagonal disorder is introduced. To this aim, we
analyze first the phase diagram in the zero-hopping limit, there disorder
induces superposition between Mott insulator (MI) phases with different filling
numbers. Then BG appears as a compressible but still insulating phase. The
phase diagram for finite hopping is also calculated with the Gutzwiller
approximation. The bosons' spin degree of freedom introduces another scattering
channel in the two-body interaction modifying the stability of MI regions with
respect to the action of disorder. This leads to some peculiar phenomena such
as the creation of BG of singlets, for very strong spin correlation, or the
disappearance of BG phase in some particular cases where fluctuations are not
able to mix different MI regions
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