Discrete Solitons and Breathers with Dilute Bose-Einstein Condensates

We study the dynamical phase diagram of a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a periodic potential. The dynamics is governed by a discrete non-linear Schr\"odinger equation: intrinsically localized excitations, including discrete solitons and breathers, can be created even if the BEC's interatomic potential is repulsive. Furthermore, we analyze the Anderson-Kasevich experiment [Science 282, 1686 (1998)], pointing out that mean field effects lead to a coherent destruction of the interwell Bloch oscillations

On Defect-Mediated Transitions in Bosonic Planar Lattices

We discuss the finite-temperature properties of Bose-Einstein condensates loaded on a 2D optical lattice. In an experimentally attainable range of parameters the system is described by the XY model, which undergoes a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition driven by the vortex pair unbinding. The interference pattern of the expanding condensates provides the experimental signature of the BKT transition: near the critical temperature, the k=0 component of the momentum distribution sharply decreases

1D Lieb-Liniger Bose Gas as Non-Relativistic Limit of the Sinh-Gordon Model

The repulsive Lieb-Liniger model can be obtained as the non-relativistic limit of the Sinh-Gordon model: all physical quantities of the latter model (S-matrix, Lagrangian and operators) can be put in correspondence with those of the former. We use this mapping, together with the Thermodynamical Bethe Ansatz equations and the exact form factors of the Sinh-Gordon model, to set up a compact and general formalism for computing the expectation values of the Lieb-Liniger model both at zero and finite temperature. The computation of one-point correlators is thoroughly detailed and, when possible, compared with known results in the literature.Comment: published version, 27 pages, 10 figure

Ultracold Bosons with 3-Body Attractive Interactions in an Optical Lattice

We study the effect of an optical lattice (OL) on the ground-state properties of one-dimensional ultracold bosons with three-body attraction and two-body repulsion, which are described by a cubic-quintic Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a periodic potential. Without the OL and with a vanishing two-body interaction term, soliton solutions of the Townes type are possible only at a critical value of the three-body interaction strength, at which an infinite degeneracy of the ground-state occurs; a repulsive two-body interaction makes such localized solutions unstable. We show that the OL opens a stability window around the critical point when the strength of the periodic potential is above a critical threshold. We also consider the effect of an external parabolic trap, studying how the stability of the solitons depends on matching between minima of the periodic potential and the minimum of the parabolic trap.Comment: Special issue of European Physical Journal B on the conference "Theory of Quantum Gases and Quantum Coherence" held in Grenoble, 200

Self-Consistent Mean-Field Theory for Frustrated Josephson Junction Arrays

We review the self-consistent mean-field theory for charge-frustrated Josephson junction arrays. Using (\phi is the phase of the superconducting wavefunction) as order parameter and imposing the self-consistency condition, we compute the phase boundary line between the superconducting region ( not equal to zero) and the insulating one ( = 0). For a uniform offset charge q=e the superconducting phase increases with respect to the situation in which q=0. Here, we generalize the self-consistent mean-field theory to include the effects induced by a random distribution of offset charges and/or of diagonal self-capacitances. For most of the phase diagram, our results agree with the outcomes of Quantum Monte Carlo simulations as well as with previous studies using the path-integral approach.Comment: Presented by F. P. Mancini at the Conference "Highlights in Condensed Matter Physics", May 9-11 2003, Salerno, Ital

Quantum measuring processes for trapped ultracold bosonic gases

The standard experimental techniques usually adopted in the study of the behaviour of ultracold atoms in optical lattices involve extracting the atom density profile from absorption images of the atomic sample after trap release. Quantum mechanically this procedure is described by a generalized measure (POVM); interference patterns found in absorption images suggest a generalized measure based on fixed-phase, coherent-like states. We show that this leads to an average atomic density which differs from the usually adopted one, obtained as the expectation value of the atom density operator in the many-body state.Comment: 11 pages, LaTe

Avoiding Infrared Catastrophes in Trapped Bose-Einstein Condensates

This paper is concerned with the long wavelength instabilities (infrared catastrophes) occurring in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). We examine the modulational instability in ``cigar-shaped'' (1D) attractive BECs and the transverse instability of dark solitons in ``pancake'' (2D) repulsive BECs. We suggest mechanisms, and give explicit estimates, on how to ``engineer'' the trapping conditions of the condensate to avoid such instabilities: the main result being that a tight enough trapping potential suppresses the instabilities present in the homogeneous limit. We compare the obtained estimates with numerical results and we highlight the relevant regimes of dynamical behavior

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and criticality of an elliptic deformation of the sine-Gordon model

We introduce and study the properties of a periodic model interpolating between the sine-- and the sinh--Gordon theories in $1+1$ dimensions. This model shows the peculiarities, due to the preservation of the functional form of their potential across RG flows, of the two limiting cases: the sine-Gordon, not having conventional order/magnetization at finite temperature, but exhibiting Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition; and the sinh-Gordon, not having a phase transition, but being integrable. The considered interpolation, which we term as {\em sn-Gordon} model, is performed with potentials written in terms of Jacobi functions. The critical properties of the sn-Gordon theory are discussed by a renormalization-group approach. The critical points, except the sinh-Gordon one, are found to be of BKT type. Explicit expressions for the critical coupling as a function of the elliptic modulus are given.Comment: v2, 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted in J. Phys.

Pseudo-Periodic Natural Higgs Inflation

Inflationary cosmology represents a well-studied framework to describe the expansion of space in the early universe, as it explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos and the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The recent detection of the Higgs boson renewed research activities based on the assumption that the inflaton could be identified with the Higgs field. At the same time, the question whether the inflationary potential can be be extended to the electroweak scale and whether it should be necessarily chosen ad hoc in order to be physically acceptable are at the center of an intense debate. Here, we perform the slow-roll analysis of the so-called Massive Natural Inflation (MNI) model which has three adjustable parameters, the explicit mass term, a Fourier amplitude u, and a frequency parameter $\beta$, in addition to a constant term of the potential. This theory has the advantage to present a structure of infinite non-degenerate minima and is amenable to an easy integration of high-energy modes. We show that, using PLANCK data, one can fix, in the large $\beta$-region, the parameters of the model in a unique way. We also demonstrate that the value for the parameters chosen at the cosmological scale does not influence the results at the electroweak scale. We argue that other models can have similar properties both at cosmological and electroweak scales, but with the MNI model one can complete the theory towards low energies and easily perform the integration of modes up to the electroweak scale, producing the correct order-of-magnitude for the Higgs mass.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, published in Nuclear Physics

Expectation Values in the Lieb-Liniger Bose Gas

Taking advantage of an exact mapping between a relativistic integrable model and the Lieb-Liniger model we present a novel method to compute expectation values in the Lieb-Liniger Bose gas both at zero and finite temperature. These quantities, relevant in the physics of one-dimensional ultracold Bose gases, are expressed by a series that has a remarkable behavior of convergence. Among other results, we show the computation of the three-body expectation value at finite temperature, a quantity that rules the recombination rate of the Bose gas.Comment: Published version. Selected for the December 2009 issue of Virtual Journal of Atomic Quantum Fluid