Many-Body Effects and Quantum Fluctuations for Discrete Time Crystals in Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive quantum multi-mode treatment using the truncated Wigner approximation to study many-body effects and quantum fluctuations in the formation of discrete time crystals in Bose-Einstein condensates, extending beyond mean-field and Bogoliubov theories.

Contribution

It introduces a fully quantum multi-mode approach to analyze DTC formation in BECs, capturing quantum depletion and fluctuations near the threshold, which previous theories could not accurately describe.

Findings

TWA results agree with mean-field for most conditions up to 2000 T

Quantum depletion remains low (~2 atoms out of 600) away from threshold

Near the threshold, quantum depletion can be as high as 260 atoms out of 600

Abstract

We present a fully comprehensive multi-mode quantum treatment based on the truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) to study many-body effects and quantum fluctuations on the formation of a discrete time crystal (DTC) in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) bouncing resonantly on an atom mirror, driven at period T. Our theoretical approach avoids the restrictions both of mean-field theory, where all bosons are assumed to remain in a single mode, and of time-dependent Bogoliubov theory, which assumes boson depletion from the condensate mode is small. For realistic initial conditions corresponding to a harmonic trap condensate mode function, our TWA calculations performed for period-doubling agree broadly with recent mean-field calculations for times out to at least 2000 T, except at interaction strengths very close to the threshold value for DTC formation where the position probability density differs significantly from that determined from mean-field theory. For typical attractive interaction strengths above the threshold value for DTC formation and for the chosen trap and driving parameters, the TWA calculations indicate a quantum depletion due to quantum many-body fluctuations of less than about two atoms out of 600 atoms at times corresponding to 2000 T, in agreement with time-dependent Bogoliubov theory calculations. On the other hand, for interaction strengths very close to the threshold value for DTC formation, the TWA calculations predict a large quantum depletion - as high as about 260 atoms out of 600. We also show that the mean energy of the DTC does not increase significantly for times out to at least 2000 mirror oscillations, so TWA theory predicts that thermalisation is absent. Finally, we find that the dynamical behaviour is similar for attractive or repulsive boson-boson interactions, and that a stable DTC based on repulsive interactions can be created.