Ultracold gases far from equilibrium

Ultracold atomic quantum gases belong to the most exciting challenges of modern physics. Their theoretical description has drawn much from classical field equations. These mean-field approximations are in general reliable for dilute gases in which the atoms collide only rarely with each other, and for situations where the gas is not too far from thermal equilibrium. With present-day technology it is, however, possible to drive and observe a system far away from equilibrium. Functional quantum field theory provides powerful tools to achieve both, analytical understanding and numerical computability, also in higher dimensions, of far-from-equilibrium quantum many-body dynamics. In the article, an outline of these approaches is given, including methods based on the two-particle irreducible effective action as well as on renormalisation-group theory. Their relation to near-equilibrium kinetic theory is discussed, and the distinction between quantum and classical statistical fluctuations is shown to naturally emerge from the functional-integral description. Example applications to the evolution of an ultracold atomic Bose gas in one spatial dimension underline the power of the methods. The article is compiled from the notes for lectures held at 46. Internationale Universitaetswochen fuer Theoretische Physik 2008 in Schladming, Austria.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures; Compiled from notes for lectures held at 46. Internationale Universitaetswochen fuer Theoretische Physik 2008 in Schladming, Austria. To be published in Eur. Phys. J. Special Topic

High light intensity photoassociation in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate theoretically the molecular yield in photoassociation of Bose-Einstein condensed sodium atoms for light intensities of the order of and above those applied in a recent experiment. Our results show that the rate at which ground state molecules may be formed saturates at high light intensities whereas the loss rate of condensate atoms does not. This is caused by the opposing roles of the short and long range pair correlations present near resonance under the influence of the laser and is crucial for the development of efficient photoassociation procedures in a condensate.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 4 Figures, numerical errors corrected in revised versio

Universal scaling at non-thermal fixed points of a two-component Bose gas

Quasi-stationary far-from-equilibrium critical states of a two-component Bose gas are studied in two spatial dimensions. After the system has undergone an initial dynamical instability it approaches a non-thermal fixed point. At this critical point the structure of the gas is characterised by ensembles of (quasi-)topological defects such as vortices, skyrmions and solitons which give rise to universal power-law behaviour of momentum correlation functions. The resulting power-law spectra can be interpreted in terms of strong-wave-turbulence cascades driven by particle transport into long-wave-length excitations. Scaling exponents are determined on both sides of the miscible-immiscible transition controlled by the ratio of the intra-species to inter-species couplings. Making use of quantum turbulence methods, we explain the specific values of the exponents from the presence of transient (quasi-)topological defects.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

Superfluid Turbulence: Nonthermal Fixed Point in an Ultracold Bose Gas

Nonthermal fixed points of far-from-equilibrium dynamics of a dilute degenerate Bose gas are analysed in two and three spatial dimensions. For such systems, universal power-law distributions, previously found within a nonperturbative quantum-field theoretic approach, are shown to be related to vortical dynamics and superfluid turbulence. The results imply an interpretation of the momentum scaling at the nonthermal fixed points in terms of independent vortex excitations of the superfluid. Long-wavelength acoustic excitations on the top of these are found to follow a non-thermal power law. The results shed light on fundamental aspects of superfluid turbulence and have strong potential implications for related phenomena studied, e.g., in early-universe inflation or quark-gluon plasma dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure