Component separation in harmonically trapped boson-fermion mixtures

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates how boson-fermion mixtures in harmonic traps undergo component separation depending on interaction strength, using mean-field and quantum methods.

Contribution

It introduces a combined numerical approach employing Gross-Pitaevskii and Schrödinger equations to analyze component separation in boson-fermion mixtures.

Findings

Component separation depends on interaction strength.

Comparison of semiclassical and quantum methods for fermion density.

Insights into mixed quantum gas behavior at zero temperature.

Abstract

We present a numerical study of mixed boson-fermion systems at zero temperature in isotropic and anisotropic harmonic traps. We investigate the phenomenon of component separation as function of the strength of the inter-particle interaction. While solving a Gross-Pitaevskii mean field equation for the boson distribution in the trap, we utilize two different methods to extract the density profile of the fermion component; a semiclassical Thomas-Fermi approximation and a quantum mechanical Slater determinant Schr\"{o}dinger equation.