A Consistent Picture of a Collapsing Bose-Einstein Condensate

TL;DR

This paper models the collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate using a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation, explaining experimental observations like partial survival, atom bursts, and jets.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive theoretical framework incorporating three-body loss to explain BEC collapse phenomena observed in experiments.

Findings

Partial survival of BEC after collapse

Origin of atom bursts and jets explained

Predictions on pattern formation and vortex instability

Abstract

We present a consistent picture of the recent JILA experiments on the collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) [E. A. Donley, et al., Nature 412, 295 (2001)] based on a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation that incorporates the effect of a three-body loss. The questions we address in this paper are: (1) Why does a BEC survive, albeit partially, after the collapse? (2) Why does the number of the remnant BEC atoms observed at JILA exceed the critical value? (3) What is the origin of the atom burst? (4) What is the origin of the atom jet and is it coherent? We review our predictions on pattern formation in the course of collapse and on the split instability of vortices that can test our collapsing theory.