Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 57: Poster 3: Quantengase, Ultrakalte Atome, Ultrakalte Moleküle, Materiewellen Optik, Präzisionsmessungen, Metrologie

Q 57.47: Poster

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 16:30–19:30, P1

General Relativistic Description of Bose-Einstein Condensates — •Oliver Gabel and Reinhold Walser — Institut für Angewandte Physik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstr. 4a, 64289 Darmstadt

Releasing Bose-Einstein condensates from traps is the standard way to observe the state of the system by time-of-flight measurements. This free fall is usually limited by the size of the vacuum chamber and is too short to study gravitational physics questions. With the realization of the QUANTUS experiment [1], it has become possible to perform free-fall experiments over large distances of 100 m and long times of 5–10 seconds. After detailed modeling of the Newtonian evolution of the release [2], it becomes relevant to quantify the expected relativistic corrections.

In this contribution, we present first results on the way towards a general relativistic description of free-falling and Earth-bound Bose-Einstein condensates.

[1] T. van Zoest et. Al., Bose-Einstein Condensation in Microgravity, Science, 328, 1540 (2010).

[2] G. Nandi, R. Walser, E. Kajari, and W. P. Schleich, Dropping cold quantum gases on Earth over long times and large distances, Phys. Rev. A 76, 63617 (2007).