Dilute Bose gases interacting via power-law potentials

Abstract

Neutral atoms interact through a van der Waals potential which asymptotically falls off as r^{-6}. In ultracold gases, this interaction can be described to a good approximation by the atom-atom scattering length. However, corrections arise that depend on the characteristic length of the van der Waals potential. We parameterize these corrections by analyzing the energies of two- and few-atom systems under external harmonic confinement, obtained by numerically and analytically solving the Schrodinger equation. We generalize our results to particles interacting through a longer-ranged potential which asymptotically falls off as r^{-4}.

7 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Bose-Einstein condensation of chromium
• Controlled collisions of a single atom and ion guided by movable trapping potentials
• Energy-dependent effective interactions for dilute many-body systems

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Many-body approach to low-lying collective excitations in a BEC approaching collapse