Understanding superradiant phenomena with synthetic vector potentials in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical study of superradiance phenomena using Bose-Einstein condensates with synthetic vector potentials, providing new insights into the mechanisms and stability of superradiant scattering in analogue gravity models.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analogue model with synthetic vector potentials to study superradiance in planar geometries, clarifying the roles of dissipation, horizons, and instabilities.

Findings

Superradiance can be studied in simple planar geometries with synthetic vector potentials.

Boundary conditions allowing reflections lead to dynamical instabilities similar to ergoregions.

Horizon stabilization in black hole geometries can suppress instabilities.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate superradiance effects in quantum field theories in curved space-times by proposing an analogue model based on Bose--Einstein condensates subject to a synthetic vector potential. The breaking of the irrotationality constraint of superfluids allows to study superradiance in simple planar geometries and obtain intuitive insight in the amplified scattering processes at ergosurfaces. When boundary conditions are modified allowing for reflections, dynamical instabilities are found, similar to the ones of ergoregions in rotating space-times. Their stabilization by horizons in black hole geometries is discussed. All these phenomena are reinterpreted through an exact mapping with the physics of one-dimensional relativistic charged scalar fields in electrostatic potentials. Our study provides a deeper understanding on the basic mechanisms of superradiance: by disentangling the different ingredients at play, it shines light on some misconceptions on the role of dissipation and horizons and on the competition between superradiant scattering and instabilities.