Hybrid synchronization in coupled ultracold atomic gases

TL;DR

This paper investigates hybrid synchronization between a Bose-condensed ultracold atomic cloud and a non-condensed cloud in a two-component Bosonic Josephson junction, revealing how coupling induces synchronized dynamics influenced by many-body quantum properties.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of hybrid synchronization in coupled ultracold gases and analyzes its dependence on quantum state and initial conditions, highlighting many-body effects.

Findings

Synchronization occurs with increasing coupling strength.

Quantum fluctuations influence the onset of synchronization.

Phenomenology is consistent across different initial quantum states.

Abstract

We study the time evolution of two coupled many-body quantum systems one of which is assumed to be Bose condensed. Specifically, we consider two ultracold atomic clouds populating each two localized single-particle states, i.e. a two-component Bosonic Josephson junction. The cold atoms cloud can retain its coherence when coupled to the condensate and displays synchronization with the latter, differing from usual entrainment. We term this effect among the ultracold and the condensed clouds as {\it hybrid synchronization}. The onset of synchronization, which we observe in the evolution of average properties of both gases when increasing their coupling, is found to be related to the many-body properties of the quantum gas, e.g. condensed fraction, quantum fluctuations of the particle number differences. We discuss the effects of different initial preparations, the influence of unequal particle numbers for the two clouds, and explore the dependence on the initial quantum state, e.g. coherent state, squeezed state and Fock state, finding essentially the same phenomenology in all cases.