Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 46: Quantengase (Wechselwirkungseffekte)

Q 46.8: Talk

Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 18:15–18:30, 6J

Bose-Einstein condensates with attractive 1/r interaction: The case of self-trapping — •Ioannis Papadopoulos and Günter Wunner — Institut für theoretische Physik 1, Universität Stuttgart, D-70550 Stuttgart

Amplifying on a proposal by O’Dell et al. for the experimental realization of Bose-Einstein condensates of neutral atoms with attractive 1/r interaction, we point out that the instances of self-trapping of the condensate, without external trap potential, are physically best understood by introducing appropriate “atomic” units. This reveals a remarkable scaling property: The physics of self-trapping depends only on the parameter N²a/a_u, where N is the particle number, a the scattering length, and a_u the appropriate “Bohr” radius. We calculate accurate numerical results for self-trapping wave functions and potentials, for energies, sizes and peak densities, and compare with previous variational results.