Quantum phase diffusions of a spinor condensate

Abstract

We discuss the quantum phases and their diffusion in a spinor-1 atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. For ferromagnetic interactions, we obtain the exact ground state distribution of the phase fluctuations corresponding to the total atom number ($N$), the magnetization ($\mathcal{M}$), and the alignment (or hypercharge) ($Y$) of the system. The mean field ground state is shown to be stable against these fluctuations, which dynamically recover the two continuous symmetries associated with the conservation of $N$ and $\mathcal{M}$ as in current experiments.

4 pages, 2 figures