Particle imbalanced weakly interacting quantum droplets in one-dimension

TL;DR

This paper investigates one-dimensional two-component quantum droplets with particle imbalance, revealing how imbalance affects droplet shape, correlations, and the transition to fermionic states, using ab-initio methods and effective modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of imbalanced quantum droplets in 1D, combining ab-initio simulations with an effective Lee-Huang-Yang based model, and explores the impact of imbalance on droplet structure and stability.

Findings

Large particle imbalance leads to localized minority droplets.

Increased interspecies attraction causes modulations in the majority component.

Droplet character disappears with fermionic minority atoms.

Abstract

We explore the formation of one-dimensional two-component quantum droplets with intercomponent particle imbalance using an ab-initio many-body method. It is shown that for moderate particle imbalance each component maintains its droplet flat-top or Gaussian type character depending on the intercomponent attraction. Importantly, large particle imbalance leads to a flat-top shape of the majority component with the minority exhibiting spatially localized configurations. The latter imprint modulations on the majority component which become more pronounced for increasing interspecies attraction. The same holds for larger mass or increasing repulsion of the minority species. Such structural transitions are also evident in the underlying two-body correlation functions. To interpret the origin and characteristics of these droplet states we derive an effective model based on the established Lee-Huang-Yang theory providing adequate qualitative analytical predictions even away from its expected parametric region of validity. In contrast, the droplet character is found to vanish in the presence of fermionic minority atoms. Our results pave the way for unveiling complex droplet phases of matter.