Spinor BECs in a double-well: population transfer and Josephson oscillations

The dynamics of an F=1 spinor condensate in a two-well potential is studied within the framework of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We derive two-mode equations relating the population imbalances, the phase differences among the condensates at each side of the barrier and the time evolution of the different Zeeman populations for the case of small population imbalances. The case of zero total magnetization is scrutinized in this limit demonstrating the ability of a two mode analysis to describe to a large extent the dynamics observed in the Gross-Pitaevskii equations. It is also demonstrated that the time evolution of the different total populations fully decouples from the Josephson tunneling phenomena. All the relevant time scales are clearly identified with microscopic properties of the atom-atom interactions

Spin mixing in colliding spinor condensates: formation of an effective barrier

The dynamics of F=1 spinor condensates initially prepared in a double-well potential is studied in the mean field approach. It is shown that a small seed of $m=0$ atoms on a system with initially well separated m=1 and m=-1 condensates has a dramatic effect on their mixing dynamics, acting as an effective barrier for a remarkably long time. We show that this effect is due to the spinor character of the system, and provides an observable example of the interplay between the internal spin dynamics and the macroscopic evolution of the magnetization in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate.Comment: Accepted for publication at the Europhysics Letter

Hyperon effects on the properties of β\beta-stable neutron star matter

We present results from Brueckner-Hartree-Fock calculations for $\beta$-stable neutron star matter with nucleonic and hyperonic degrees of freedom employing the most recent parametrizations of the baryon-baryon interaction of the Nijmegen group. Only $\Sigma^-$ and $\Lambda$ are present up to densities $\sim 7\rho_0$. The corresponding equations of state are then used to compute properties of neutron stars such as masses and radii.Comment: 4 pages, contributed talk at HYP2000, Torino, 23-27 Oct. 200

Predicting spinor condensate dynamics from simple principles

We study the spin dynamics of quasi-one-dimensional F=1 condensates both at zero and finite temperatures for arbitrary initial spin configurations. The rich dynamical evolution exhibited by these non-linear systems is explained by surprisingly simple principles: minimization of energy at zero temperature, and maximization of entropy at high temperature. Our analytical results for the homogeneous case are corroborated by numerical simulations for confined condensates in a wide variety of initial conditions. These predictions compare qualitatively well with recent experimental observations and can, therefore, serve as a guidance for on-going experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. v3: matches version appeared in PR

High-momentum proton removal from 16O and the (e,e'p) cross section

The cross section for the removal of high-momentum protons from 16O is calculated for high missing energies. The admixture of high-momentum nucleons in the 16O ground state is obtained by calculating the single-hole spectral function directly in the finite nucleus with the inclusion of short-range and tensor correlations induced by a realistic meson-exchange interaction. The presence of high-momentum nucleons in the transition to final states in 15N at 60-100 MeV missing energy is converted to the coincidence cross section for the (e,e'p) reaction by including the coupling to the electromagnetic probe and the final state interactions of the outgoing proton in the same way as in the standard analysis of the experimental data. Detectable cross sections for the removal of a single proton at these high missing energies are obtained which are considerably larger at higher missing momentum than the corresponding cross sections for the p-wave quasihole transitions. Cross sections for these quasihole transitions are compared with the most recent experimental data available.Comment: 26 RevTex pages, 7 ps figure