Effective Field Theory and Finite Density Systems

This review gives an overview of effective field theory (EFT) as applied at finite density, with a focus on nuclear many-body systems. Uniform systems with short-range interactions illustrate the ingredients and virtues of many-body EFT and then the varied frontiers of EFT for finite nuclei and nuclear matter are surveyed.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure

Vortex nucleation as a case study of symmetry breaking in quantum systems

Mean-field methods are a very powerful tool for investigating weakly interacting many-body systems in many branches of physics. In particular, they describe with excellent accuracy trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. A generic, but difficult question concerns the relation between the symmetry properties of the true many-body state and its mean-field approximation. Here, we address this question by considering, theoretically, vortex nucleation in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. A slow sweep of the rotation frequency changes the state of the system from being at rest to the one containing one vortex. Within the mean-field framework, the jump in symmetry occurs through a turbulent phase around a certain critical frequency. The exact many-body ground state at the critical frequency exhibits strong correlations and entanglement. We believe that this constitutes a paradigm example of symmetry breaking in - or change of the order parameter of - quantum many-body systems in the course of adiabatic evolution.Comment: Minor change

Climate-induced variability in South Atlantic wave direction over the past three millennia

Through alteration of wave-generating atmospheric systems, global climate changes play a fundamental role in regional wave climate. However, long-term wave-climate cycles and their associated forcing mechanisms remain poorly constrained, in part due to a relative dearth of highly resolved archives. Here we use the morphology of former shorelines preserved in beach-foredune ridges (BFR) within a protected embayment to reconstruct changes in predominant wave directions in the Subtropical South Atlantic during the last ~ 3000 years. These analyses reveal multi-centennial cycles of oscillation in predominant wave direction in accordance with stronger (weaker) South Atlantic mid- to high-latitudes mean sea-level pressure gradient and zonal westerly winds, favouring wave generation zones in higher (lower) latitudes and consequent southerly (easterly) wave components. We identify the Southern Annular Mode as the primary climate driver responsible for these changes. Long-term variations in interhemispheric surface temperature anomalies coexist with oscillations in wave direction, which indicates the influence of temperature-driven atmospheric teleconnections on wave-generation cycles. These results provide a novel geomorphic proxy for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and present new insights into the role of global multi-decadal to multi-centennial climate variability in controlling coastal-ocean wave climate

Possible Quantum Spin Liquid States on the Triangular and Kagome Lattices

The frustrated spin-one-half Heisenberg model on triangualr and Kagome Lattices is mapped onto a single specis of fermion carrying statistical flux. The corresponding Chern-Simons gauge theory is analyzed at the Gaussian level and found to be massive. This provides a new motivation for the spin-liquid Kalmeyer-Laughlin wave function. Good overlap of this wave function with the numerical ground state is found for small clusters.Comment: 13 pages, revtex. IUCM-920

Few-Body States in Fermi-Systems and Condensation Phenomena

Residual interactions in many particle systems lead to strong correlations. A multitude of spectacular phenomenae in many particle systems are connected to correlation effects in such systems, e.g. pairing, superconductivity, superfluidity, Bose-Einstein condensation etc. Here we focus on few-body bound states in a many-body surrounding.Comment: 10 pages, proceedings 1st Asian-Pacific Few-Body Conference, needs fbssuppl.sty of Few-Body System

Anomalous modes drive vortex dynamics in confined Bose-Einstein condensates

The dynamics of vortices in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates are investigated both analytically and numerically. In axially symmetric traps, the critical rotation frequency for the metastability of an isolated vortex coincides with the largest vortex precession frequency (or anomalous mode) in the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum. As the condensate becomes more elongated, the number of anomalous modes increases. The largest frequency of these modes exceeds both the thermodynamic critical frequency and the nucleation frequency at which vortices are created dynamically. Thus, anomalous modes describe not only the critical rotation frequency for creation of the first vortex in an elongated condensate but also the vortex precession in a single-component spherical condensate.Comment: 4 pages revtex, 3 embedded figure

Atomic Physics: Neutral atoms put in charge

An elegant experiment shows that atoms subjected to a pair of laser beams can behave like electrons in a magnetic field, as demonstrated by the appearance of quantized vortices in a neutral superfluid

Nonlinear dynamics of Bose-condensed gases by means of a low- to high-density variational approach

We propose a versatile variational method to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of one-dimensional magnetically-trapped Bose-condensed gases. To this end we employ a \emph{q}-Gaussian trial wave-function that interpolates between the low- and the high-density limit of the ground state of a Bose-condensed gas. Our main result consists of reducing the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a nonlinear partial differential equation describing the T=0 dynamics of the condensate, to a set of only three equations: \emph{two coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations} describing the phase and the curvature of the wave-function and \emph{a separate algebraic equation} yielding the generalized width. Our equations recover those of the usual Gaussian variational approach (in the low-density regime), and the hydrodynamic equations that describe the high-density regime. Finally, we show a detailed comparison between the numerical results of our equations and those of the original Gross-Pitaevskii equation.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. A, January 200

In-situ velocity imaging of ultracold atoms using slow--light

The optical response of a moving medium suitably driven into a slow-light propagation regime strongly depends on its velocity. This effect can be used to devise a novel scheme for imaging ultraslow velocity fields. The scheme turns out to be particularly amenable to study in-situ the dynamics of collective and topological excitations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. We illustrate the advantages of using slow-light imaging specifically for sloshing oscillations and bent vortices in a stirred condensate

Nucleation of vortex arrays in rotating anisotropic Bose-Einstein condensates

The nucleation of vortices and the resulting structures of vortex arrays in dilute, trapped, zero-temperature Bose-Einstein condensates are investigated numerically. Vortices are generated by rotating a three-dimensional, anisotropic harmonic atom trap. The condensate ground state is obtained by propagating the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in imaginary time. Vortices first appear at a rotation frequency significantly larger than the critical frequency for vortex stabilization. This is consistent with a critical velocity mechanism for vortex nucleation. At higher frequencies, the structures of the vortex arrays are strongly influenced by trap geometry.Comment: 5 pages, two embedded figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. A (RC