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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 45: Quantum gases: Bosons II
Q 45.1: Talk
Thursday, March 21, 2013, 11:00–11:15, F 342
Scattering bright solitons: quantum versus mean-field behavior — •Bettina Gertjerenken1 and Christoph Weiss2 — 1Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
We investigate scattering bright solitons of a potential using both analytical and numerical methods. Our paper focuses on low kinetic energies for which differences between the mean-field description via the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) and the quantum behavior are particularly large. On the N-particle quantum level, adding an additional harmonic confinement leads to a simple signature to distinguish quantum superpositions from statistical mixtures. While the non-linear character of the GPE does not allow quantum superpositions, the splitting of GPE-solitons takes place only partially. When the potential strength is increased, the fraction of the soliton which is transmitted or reflected jumps non-continuously. We explain these jumps via energy-conservation and interpret them as indications for quantum superpositions on the N-particle level. On the GPE-level, we also investigate the transition from this stepwise behavior to the continuous case.