Dynamical variational approach to Bose polarons at finite temperatures

TL;DR

This paper extends a variational approach to study Bose polarons at finite temperatures, analyzing their formation, spectral properties, and temperature effects, with results aligning well with recent experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a finite-temperature extension of the dynamical variational method for Bose polarons, including strong interactions beyond the Fröhlich model.

Findings

Temperature causes spectral line shifts and broadening.

Real-time Green's function shows a linear decay rate near unitarity.

Results agree with recent RF spectroscopy experiments.

Abstract

We discuss the interaction of a mobile quantum impurity with a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms at finite temperature. To describe the resulting Bose polaron formation we extend the dynamical variational approach of [Phys.Rev.Lett. 117, 11302 (2016)] to an initial thermal gas of Bogoliubov phonons. We study the polaron formation after switching on the interaction, e.g., by a radio-frequency (RF) pulse from a non-interacting to an interacting state. To treat also the strongly-interacting regime, interaction terms beyond the Fr\"ohlich model are taken into account. We calculate the real-time impurity Green's function and discuss its temperature dependence. Furthermore, we determine the RF absorption spectrum and find good agreement with recent experimental observations. We predict temperature-induced shifts and a substantial broadening of spectral lines. The analysis of the real-time Green's function reveals a crossover to a linear temperature dependence of the thermal decay rate of Bose polarons as unitary interactions are approached.