Quantum phase transition in one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions

We identify a (pseudo) relativistic spin-dependent analogue of the celebrated quantum phase transition driven by the formation of a bright soliton in attractive one-dimensional bosonic gases. In this new scenario, due to the simultaneous existence of the linear dispersion and the bosonic nature of the system, special care must be taken with the choice of energy region where the transition takes place. Still, due to a crucial adiabatic separation of scales, and identified thro...

By examining the bound-state spectra of transverse fluctuations about one-dimensional, spatially localized dark and bright soliton wavetrains of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, it is established that the low-temperature ground states of repulsive and attractive quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates are degenerate. In the one-soliton limit, both ground states are shown to possess two distinct transverse fluctuation modes which can couple to the spatial soliton: the fi...

A Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) made of alkali-metal atoms at ultra-low temperatures is well described by the three-dimensional cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, the so-called Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE). Here we consider an attractive BEC in a ring and by solving the GPE we predict the existence of bright solitons with single and multi-peaks, showing that they have a limited domain of dynamical stability. We also discuss finite-temperature effects on the transitio...

The ground-state properties of attractive bosons trapped in a ring lattice including a single attractive potential well with an adjustable depth are investigated. The energy spectrum is reconstructed both in the strong-interaction limit and in the superfluid regime within the Bogoliubov picture. The analytical results thus obtained are compared with those found numerically from the exact Hamiltonian, in order to identify the regions in the parameter space where this picture i...

When an interaction quench by a factor of four is applied to an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate, a higher-order quantum bright soliton exhibiting robust oscillations is predicted in the semiclassical limit by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Combining matrix-product state simulations of the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian with analytical treatment via the Lieb-Liniger model and the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, we show these oscillations are absent. Instead, one obtains a ...

We describe a model of dynamic Bose-Einstein condensates near a Feshbach resonance that is computationally feasible under assumptions of spherical or cylindrical symmetry. Simulations in spherical symmetry approximate the experimentally measured time to collapse of an unstably attractive condensate only when the molecular binding energy in the model is correct, demonstrating that the quantum fluctuations and atom-molecule pairing included in the model are the dominant mechani...

It is shown using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation that resonance states of Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive interactions can be stabilized into true bound states. A semiclassical variational approximation and an independent quantum variational numerical method are used to calculate the energies (chemical potentials) and linewidths of resonances of the time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii equation; both methods produce similar results. Borders between the regimes of resona...

We present a microscopic theory of the second order phase transition in an interacting Bose gas that allows one to describe formation of an ordered condensate phase from a disordered phase across an entire critical region continuously. We derive the exact fundamental equations for a condensate wave function and the Green functions, which are valid both inside and outside the critical region. They are reduced to the usual Gross-Pitaevskii and Beliaev-Popov equations in a low-t...

We generalize the concept of quantum phase transitions, which is conventionally defined for a ground state and usually applied in the thermodynamic limit, to one for \emph{metastable states} in \emph{finite size systems}. In particular, we treat the one-dimensional Bose gas on a ring in the presence of both interactions and rotation. To support our study, we bring to bear mean-field theory, i.e., the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, and linear perturbation or Bogoliubov-de G...

We investigate rotational properties of a system of bosons with attractive interactions confined in a one-dimensional torus. Two kinds of ground states, uniform-density and bright-soliton states, are obtained analytically as functions of the strength of interaction and of the rotational frequency of the torus. The quantization of circulation appears in the uniform-density state, but disappears upon formation of the soliton. By comparison with the results of exact diagonalizat...