Mobility edges and fractal states in quasiperiodic Gross-Pitaevskii chains

TL;DR

This paper investigates how interactions in a nonlinear quasiperiodic chain influence the localization and fractal properties of elementary excitations, revealing complex mobility edges and critical states.

Contribution

It introduces a nonlinear Aubry-Andre model showing nontrivial mobility edges and fractal states due to interactions, extending understanding beyond the linear case.

Findings

Presence of nontrivial mobility edges with branching behavior.

Existence of fractal (critical) states in the excitation spectrum.

Robustness of low-energy phonons against incommensurate potential.

Abstract

We explore properties of a Gross-Pitaevskii chain subject to an incommensurate periodic potential, i.e., a nonlinear Aubry-Andre model. We show that the condensate crucially impacts the properties of the elementary excitations. In contrast to the conventional linear Aubry-Andre model, the boundary between localized and extended states (mobility edge) exhibits nontrivial branching. For instance, in the high-density regime, tongues of extended phases at intermediate energies penetrate the domain of localized states. In the low-density case, the situation is opposite, and tongues of localized phases emerge. Moreover, intermediate critical (fractal) states are observed. The low-energy phonon part of the spectrum is robust against the incommensurate potential. Our study shows that accounting for interactions, already at the classical level, lead to highly nontrivial behavior of the elementary excitation spectrum.