Some exact stationary state solutions of a nonlinear Dirac equation in 2+1 dimensions

TL;DR

This paper investigates exact stationary solutions of a nonlinear Dirac equation modeling Bose-Einstein condensates in honeycomb optical lattices, revealing real energy eigenvalues and angular momentum conservation under specific conditions.

Contribution

It provides new exact stationary and localized solutions to the nonlinear Dirac equation in 2+1 dimensions, with analysis of angular momentum properties.

Findings

Energy eigenvalues are real.

Angular momentum sum commutes with the Hamiltonian under certain conditions.

Exact localized solutions are obtained.

Abstract

Graphene's honeycomb lattice structure is quite remarkable in the sense that it leads, in the long wavelength limit, to a massless Dirac equation description of nonrelativistic quasiparticles associated with electrons and holes present in the two dimensional crystallite. In the case of cold bosonic atoms trapped in a honeycomb optical lattice, Haddad and Carr (2009) have recently shown, by taking into account binary contact interactions, that the dynamics of these Bose-Einstein condensates is governed by a nonlinear Dirac equation (NLDE). In this paper, we study exact stationary solutions of such a NLDE. After proving that the energy eigenvalues are real, we show that the sum of orbital angular momentum and pseudospin angular momentum normal to the crystal commutes with the nonlinear Hamiltonian whenever magnitudes of the pseudospin components do not depend on the polar angle $\phi $. We obtain some exact stationary and localized solutions of the NLDE.