Aspect ratio analysis for ground states of bosons in anisotropic traps

TL;DR

This paper introduces an analytical model for the initial condensate wave function in Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium-87 atoms within anisotropic traps, accurately capturing different interaction regimes and aligning well with numerical data.

Contribution

The authors propose a simple analytical Ansatz for the condensate wave function that improves upon previous models by accurately representing both weak and strong interaction limits.

Findings

The Ansatz reproduces numerical results more accurately than previous trial functions.

It effectively characterizes the condensate's aspect ratio in anisotropic traps.

The model provides insights into the initial condensate properties in BEC experiments.

Abstract

Characteristics of the initial condensate in the recent experiment on Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of ${}^{87}$Rb atoms in an anisotropic magnetic trap is discussed. Given the aspect ratio $R$, the quality of BEC is estimated. A simple analytical Ansatz for the initial condensate wave function is proposed as a function of the aspect ratio which, in contrast to the Baym-Pethick trial wave function, reproduces both the weak and the strong intaraction limits and which is in better agreement with numerical results than the latter.