Trapped Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of a current nonlinearity

TL;DR

This paper explores how current nonlinearity affects trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing irregular dynamics, wave function deformation, and persistent localized modes, using techniques adapted from nonlinear optics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to analyze current nonlinearity effects in Bose-Einstein condensates, highlighting wave function broadening, compression, and long-term deformation.

Findings

Current nonlinearity causes wave function broadening and compression.

Long-term evolution leads to drastic wave function deformation and delocalization.

Localized modes persist oscillating with inverse trap frequency.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of a current nonlinearity on the evolution of a trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. We have implemented techniques from the field of nonlinear optics to provide new insights into the irregular dynamics associated with chiral superfluids. We have found that the current nonlinearity can be treated as a Kerr-like nonlinearity modulated by a spatiotemporal function that can lead to a number of processes such as broadening and compression of the wave function. In the long time scale limit, the wave function is drastically deformed and delocalised compared to its initial state. However, localised modes which oscillate with the period of the inverse trap frequency can still be observed.