Quantum Dynamics of Atomic Coherence in a Spin-1 Condensate: Mean-Field versus Many-Body Simulation

TL;DR

This paper investigates the quantum dynamics of a spin-1 condensate, comparing mean-field and many-body simulations to understand symmetry changes and spin-mixing interactions in a simplified model.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of many-body quantum effects in spin-1 condensates, highlighting differences from mean-field predictions.

Findings

Observation of symmetry changes during evolution

Identification of signatures of spin-mixing interactions

Comparison between mean-field and many-body results

Abstract

We analyse and numerically simulate the full many-body quantum dynamics of a spin-1 condensate in the single spatial mode approximation. Initially, the condensate is in a ``ferromagnetic'' state with all spins aligned along the $y$ axis and the magnetic field pointing along the z axis. In the course of evolution the spinor condensate undergoes a characteristic change of symmetry, which in a real experiment could be a signature of spin-mixing many-body interactions. The results of our simulations are conveniently visualised within the picture of irreducible tensor operators.