Mean-field stationary state of a Bose gas at a Feshbach resonance

TL;DR

This paper investigates the steady state of a zero-temperature Bose gas near a Feshbach resonance using a mean-field model that includes atomic and molecular condensates and correlated atom pairs, revealing a phase transition and potential mechanical instability.

Contribution

It introduces a two-channel mean-field model for atom-molecule systems near Feshbach resonances, deriving a unique steady state solution and analyzing phase transition behavior.

Findings

Atomic condensate emerges nonanalytically at the phase transition.

Observable quantities scale with detuning and coupling strength.

The system exhibits negative pressure, indicating possible mechanical instability.

Abstract

We study the steady state of a zero-temperature Bose gas near a Feshbach or photoassociation resonance using a two-channel mean-field model that incorporates atomic and molecular condensates, as well as correlated atom pairs originating from dissociation of molecules into pairs of atoms. We start from a many-body Hamiltonian for atom-molecule conversion, and derive the time dependent version of the mean-field theory. The stationary solution of the time dependent model is rendered unique with an approximation that entails that all noncondensate atoms are correlated, as if emerging from dissociation of molecules. The steady state is solved numerically, but limiting cases are also found analytically. The system has a phase transition in which the atomic condensate emerges in a nonanalytic fashion. We quantify the scaling of the observable quantities, such as fractions of atomic and molecular condensates, with the detuning and the atom-molecule conversion strength. Qualitatively, the dependence on detuning rounds out with increasing coupling strength. A study of the thermodynamics shows that the pressure of the atom-molecule system is negative, even on the molecule side of the resonance. This indicates the possibility of mechanical instability.