Shohei Watabe

Dynamical density fluctuations of superfluids near the critical velocity.

We propose a stability criterion of superfluids in condensed Bose-Einstein systems, which incorporates the spectral function or the autocorrelation function of the local density. Within the Gross-Pitaevskii-Bogoliubov theory, we demonstrate the validity of our criterion for the soliton-emission instability, with use of explicit forms of zero modes of the Bogoliubov equation and a dynamical scaling near the saddle-node bifurcation. We also show that the criterion is applicable to the Landau phonon instability and the Landau roton instability within the single-mode approximation.

Reflection and refraction of Bose-Einstein-condensate excitations

We investigate the transmission and reflection of Bose-condensate excitations in the low energy limit across a potential barrier separating two condensates with different densities. The Bogoliubov excitation in the low energy limit has the incident angle where the perfect transmission occurs. This condition corresponds to the Brewsters law for the electromagnetic wave. The total internal reflection of the Bogoliubov excitation is found to occur at a large incident angle in the low energy limit. The anomalous tunneling named by Kagan et al. [Yu. Kagan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 90, 130402 (2003)] can be understood in terms of the impedance matching. In the case of the normal incidence, comparison with the results in Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids is made.

Green's-function formalism for a condensed Bose gas consistent with infrared-divergent longitudinal susceptibility and Nepomnyashchii-Nepomnyashchii identity

We present a Greens function formalism for an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) satisfying the two required conditions: (i) the infrared-divergent longitudinal susceptibility with respect to the BEC order parameter, and (ii) the Nepomnyashchii-Nepomnyashchii identity stating the vanishing off-diagonal self-energy in the low-energy and low-momentum limit. These conditions cannot be described by the ordinary mean-field Bogoliubov theory, the many-body

Comparative studies of many-body corrections to an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate

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Anomalous tunneling of collective excitations and effects of superflow in the polar phase of a spin-1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

-matrix theory, as well as the random-phase approximation with the vertex correction. In this paper, we show that these required conditions can be satisfied, when we divide many-body corrections into singular and non-singular parts, and separately treat them as different self-energy corrections. The resulting Greens function may be viewed as an extension of the Popovs hydrodynamic theory to the region at finite temperatures. Our results would be useful in constructing a consistent theory of BECs satisfying various required conditions, beyond the mean-field level.

Transmission of excitations in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate through a barrier

We compare many-body theories describing fluctuation corrections to the mean-field theory in a weakly interacting Bose-condensed gas. Using a generalized random-phase approximation, we include both density fluctuations and fluctuations in the particle-particle scattering channel in a consistent manner. We also separately examine effects of the fluctuations within the framework of the random-phase approximation. Effects of fluctuations in the particle-particle scattering channel are also separately examined by using the many-body T-matrix approximation. We assess these approximations with respect to the transition temperature, the order of phase transition, as well as the so-called Nepomnyashchii-Nepomnyashchii identity, which states the vanishing off-diagonal self-energy in the low-energy and low-momentum limit. Since the construction of a consistent theory for interacting bosons which satisfies various required conditions is a long standing problem in cold atom physics, our results would be useful for this important challenge.

Zero and First Sound in Normal Fermi Systems

We investigate tunneling properties of collective modes in the polar phase of a spin-1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). This spinor BEC state has two kinds of gapless modes (i.e., Bogoliubov and spin-wave). Within the framework of mean-field theory at T=0, we show that these Goldstone modes exhibit perfect transmission in the low-energy limit. Their anomalous tunneling behavior still holds in the presence of superflow, except in the critical current state. In the critical current state, while the tunneling of Bogoliubov mode is accompanied by finite reflection, the spin wave still exhibits perfect transmission, unless the strengths of spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions take the same value. We discuss the relation between perfect transmission of a spin wave and underlying superfluidity through a comparison of wave functions of the spin wave and the condensate.

Conversion efficiencies of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules

We investigate tunneling of excitations across a potential barrier separating two spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. Using mean-field theory at absolute zero temperature, we determine the transmission coefficients of excitations in the saturated magnetization state and unsaturated magnetization states. All excitations, except the quadrupolar spin mode in the saturated magnetization state, show the anomalous tunneling phenomenon characterized as perfect tunneling in the low-momentum limit through a potential barrier. The quadrupolar spin mode in the saturated magnetization state, whose spectrum is massive, shows total reflection. We discuss properties common between excitations showing the anomalous tunneling phenomenon. Excitations showing perfect tunneling have a gapless spectrum in the absence of the magnetic field, and their wave functions in the low-energy limit are the same as the condensate wave function.

Stability criterion for superfluidity based on the density spectral function

On the basis of a moment method, general solutions of a linearized Boltzmann equation for a normal Fermi system are investigated. In particular, we study the sound velocities and damping rates as functions of the temperature and the coupling constant. In the extreme limits of collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes, eigenfrequency of sound mode obtained from the moment equations reproduces the well-known results of zero sound and first sound. In addition, the moment method can describe crossover between those extreme limits at finite temperatures. Solutions of the moment equations also involve a thermal diffusion mode. From solutions of these equations, we discuss excitation spectra corresponding to the particle-hole continuum as well as collective excitations. We also discuss a collective mode in a weak coupling case.

Excitation transport through a domain wall in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the conversion efficiency of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules in population imbalanced atomic gases formed by ramping the magnetic field adiabatically. We extend the recent work [J. E. Williams et al., New J. Phys., 8, 150 (2006)] on the theory of Feshbach molecule formations to various combinations of quantum statistics of each atomic component. A simple calculation for a harmonically trapped ideal gas is in good agreement with the recent experiment [S. B. Papp and C. E. Wieman, Phys. Rev. Lett., 97, 180404 (2006)] without any fitting parameters. We also give the conversion efficiency as an explicit function of initial peak phase space density of the majority species for population imbalanced gases. In the low-density region where Bose-Einstein condensation does not appear, the conversion efficiency is a monotonic function of the initial peak phase space density, but independent of statistics of a minority component. The quantum statistics of majority atoms has a significant effect on the conversion efficiency. In addition, Bose-Einstein condensation of an atomic component is the key element determining the maximum conversion efficiency.