Momentum correlations as signature of sonic Hawking radiation in Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates momentum correlations in a Bose-Einstein condensate with a sonic horizon, proposing specific signals as signatures of Hawking radiation and quantum entanglement detection.

Contribution

It identifies key momentum correlation lines and evaluates experimental procedures for detecting Hawking radiation in BECs, emphasizing quantum non-separability.

Findings

Hawking quantum-partner correlations are robust indicators of Hawking radiation.

Certain momentum correlations are resilient to temperature and quenches.

The study provides practical guidance for experimental detection of sonic Hawking radiation.

Abstract

We study the two-body momentum correlation signal in a quasi one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a sonic horizon. We identify the relevant correlation lines in momentum space and compute the intensity of the corresponding signal. We consider a set of different experimental procedures and identify the specific issues of each measuring process. We show that some inter-channel correlations, in particular the Hawking quantum-partner one, are particularly well adapted for witnessing quantum non-separability, being resilient to the effects of temperature and/or quantum quenches.