Beyond the Spin Model Approximation for Ramsey Spectroscopy

Ramsey spectroscopy has become a powerful technique for probing non-equilibrium dynamics of internal (pseudospin) degrees of freedom of interacting systems. In many theoretical treatments, the key to understanding the dynamics has been to assume the external (motional) degrees of freedom are decoupled from the pseudospin degrees of freedom. Determining the validity of this approximation -- known as the spin model approximation -- is complicated, and has not been addressed in detail. Here we shed light in this direction by calculating Ramsey dynamics exactly for two interacting spin-1/2 particles in a harmonic trap. We focus on $s$-wave-interacting fermions in quasi-one and two-dimensional geometries. We find that in 1D the spin model assumption works well over a wide range of experimentally-relevant conditions, but can fail at time scales longer than those set by the mean interaction energy. Surprisingly, in 2D a modified version of the spin model is exact to first order in the interaction strength. This analysis is important for a correct interpretation of Ramsey spectroscopy and has broad applications ranging from precision measurements to quantum information and to fundamental probes of many-body systems

Coarse-graining schemes for stochastic lattice systems with short and long-range interactions

We develop coarse-graining schemes for stochastic many-particle microscopic models with competing short- and long-range interactions on a d-dimensional lattice. We focus on the coarse-graining of equilibrium Gibbs states and using cluster expansions we analyze the corresponding renormalization group map. We quantify the approximation properties of the coarse-grained terms arising from different types of interactions and present a hierarchy of correction terms. We derive semi-analytical numerical schemes that are accompanied with a posteriori error estimates for coarse-grained lattice systems with short and long-range interactions.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figure

Thermodynamics of quantum degenerate gases in optical lattices

The entropy-temperature curves are calculated for non-interacting Bose and Fermi gases in a 3D optical lattice. These curves facilitate understanding of how adiabatic changes in the lattice depth affect the temperature, and we demonstrate regimes where the atomic sample can be significantly heated or cooled by the loading process. We assess the effects of interactions on a Bose gas in a deep optical lattice, and show that interactions ultimately limit the extent of cooling that can occur during lattice loading.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to proceedings of Laser Physics 2006 Worksho

Kinetics of ballistic annihilation and branching

We consider a one-dimensional model consisting of an assembly of two-velocity particles moving freely between collisions. When two particles meet, they instantaneously annihilate each other and disappear from the system. Moreover each moving particle can spontaneously generate an offspring having the same velocity as its mother with probability 1-q. This model is solved analytically in mean-field approximation and studied by numerical simulations. It is found that for q=1/2 the system exhibits a dynamical phase transition. For q<1/2, the slow dynamics of the system is governed by the coarsening of clusters of particles having the same velocities, while for q>1/2 the system relaxes rapidly towards its stationary state characterized by a distribution of small cluster sizes.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, uses multicol, epic, eepic and eepicemu. Also avaiable at http://mykonos.unige.ch/~rey/pubt.htm

Theory of correlations between ultra-cold bosons released from an optical lattice

In this paper we develop a theoretical description of the correlations between ultra-cold bosons after free expansion from confinement in an optical lattice. We consider the system evolution during expansion and give criteria for a far field regime. We develop expressions for first and second order two-point correlations based on a variety of commonly used approximations to the many-body state of the system including Bogoliubov, meanfield decoupling, and particle-hole perturbative solution about the perfect Mott-insulator state. Using these approaches we examine the effects of quantum depletion and pairing on the system correlations. Comparison with the directly calculated correlation functions is used to justify a Gaussian form of our theory from which we develop a general three-dimensional formalism for inhomogeneous lattice systems suitable for numerical calculations of realistic experimental regimes.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. A. (few minor changes made and typos fixed

Minimizing Strong Telluric Absorption in Near Infra-red Stellar Spectra

We have obtained high resolution spectra (R = 25000) of an A star over varying airmass to determine the effectiveness of telluric removal in the limit of high signal to noise. The near infra-red line HeI at 2.058 microns, which is a sensitive indicator of physical conditions in massive stars, supergiants, HII regions and YSOs, resides among pressure broadened telluric absorption from carbon dioxide and water vapor that varies both in time and with observed airmass. Our study shows that in the limit of bright stars at high resolution, accuracies of 5% are typical for high airmass observations (greater than 1.9), improving to a photon-limited accuracy of 2% at smaller airmasses (less than 1.15). We find that by using the continuum between telluric absorption lines of a ro-vibrational fan a photon-limited 1% accuracy is achievable.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in PAS

A renormalization group study of a class of reaction-diffusion model, with particles input

We study a class of reaction-diffusion model extrapolating continuously between the pure coagulation-diffusion case ($A+A\to A$) and the pure annihilation-diffusion one ($A+A\to\emptyset$) with particles input ($\emptyset\to A$) at a rate $J$. For dimension $d\leq 2$, the dynamics strongly depends on the fluctuations while, for $d >2$, the behaviour is mean-field like. The models are mapped onto a field theory which properties are studied in a renormalization group approach. Simple relations are found between the time-dependent correlation functions of the different models of the class. For the pure coagulation-diffusion model the time-dependent density is found to be of the form $c(t,J,D) = (J/D)^{1/\delta}{\cal F}[(J/D)^{\Delta} Dt]$, where $D$ is the diffusion constant. The critical exponent $\delta$ and $\Delta$ are computed to all orders in $\epsilon=2-d$, where $d$ is the dimension of the system, while the scaling function $\cal F$ is computed to second order in $\epsilon$. For the one-dimensional case an exact analytical solution is provided which predictions are compared with the results of the renormalization group approach for $\epsilon=1$.Comment: Ten pages, using Latex and IOP macro. Two latex figures. Submitted to Journal of Physics A. Also available at http://mykonos.unige.ch/~rey/publi.htm

Exactly Soluble Dynamics of (p,q) String Near Macroscopic Fundamental Strings

We study dynamics of Type IIB bound-state of a Dirichlet string and n fundamental strings in the background of N fundamental strings. Because of supergravity potential, the bound-state string is pulled to the background fundamental strings, whose motion is described by open string rolling radion field. The string coupling can be made controllably weak and, in the limit $1 << g^2_{\rm st} n << g^2_{\rm st} N$, the bound-state energy involved is small compared to the string scale. We thus propose rolling dynamics of open string radion in this system as an exactly solvable analog for rolling dynamics of open string tachyon in decaying D-brane. The dynamics bears a novel feature that the worldsheet electric field increases monotonically to the critical value as the bound-state string falls into the background string. Close to the background string, D string constituent inside the bound-state string decouples from fundamental string constituents.Comment: 27p, 2 figure