Macroscopic quantum tunneling of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates
arXiv:cond-mat/0103374 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.64.053605
Abstract
We show theoretically the existence of a metastable state and the possibility of decay to the ground state through macroscopic quantum tunneling in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates with repulsive interactions. Numerical analysis of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations clarifies the metastable states whose configuration preserves or breaks the symmetry of the trapping potential, depending on the interspecies interaction and the particle number. We calculate the tunneling decay rate of the metastable state by using the collective coordinate method under the WKB approximation. Then the height of the energy barrier is estimated by the saddle point solution. It is found that macroscopic quantum tunneling is observable in a wide range of particle numbers. Macroscopic quantum coherence between two distinct states is discussed; this might give an additional coherent property of two-component Bose condensed systems. Thermal effects on the decay rate are estimated.
11 pages, 10 figures, revtex4
Cited by in corpus (16)
- Vortices in multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates
- Multiple domain formation induced by modulation instability in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates
- A classification of the ground states and topological defects in a rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensate
- Rayleigh-Taylor instability of binary condensates
- Macroscopic quantum tunnelling of Bose-Einstein condensates in a finite potential well
- Nonlinear modes in binary bosonic condensates with the pseudo-spin-orbital coupling
- Macroscopic spin tunneling and quantum critical behavior of a condensate in double-well potential
- Quasi-spin Model for Macroscopic Quantum Tunnelling between Two Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Beyond Thomas--Fermi analysis of the density profiles of a miscible two-component Bose--Einstein condensate
- Binary mixtures of condensates in generic confining potentials
- Dynamics of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in rotating traps
- Domain wall suppression in trapped mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates
- Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a phase-separated three-component Bose-Einstein condensate
- Nonexponential decay of Feshbach molecules
- Coherent macroscopic quantum tunneling in boson-fermion mixtures
- Metastable order protected by destructive many-body interference