Instability of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interaction
Abstract
We study the stability of a Bose-Einstein condensate of harmonically trapped atoms with negative scattering length, specifically lithium 7. Our method is to solve the time-dependent nonlinear Schrodinger equation numerically. For an isolated condensate, with no gain or loss, we find that the system is stable (apart from quantum tunneling) if the particle number N is less than a critical number N_c. For N > N_c, the system collapses to high-density clumps in a region near the center of the trap. The time for the onset of collapse is on the order of 1 trap period. Within numerical uncertainty, the results are consistent with the formation of a "black hole" of infinite density fluctuations, as predicted by Ueda and Huang. We obtain numerically N_c approximately 1251. We then include gain-loss mechanisms, i.e., the gain of atoms from a surrounding "thermal cloud", and the loss due to two- and three-body collisions. The number N now oscillates in a steady state, with a period of about 145 trap periods. We obtain N_c approximately 1260 as the maximum value in the oscillations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9908229,
title = {Instability of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interaction},
author = {Antonios Eleftheriou and Kerson Huang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9908229},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Email correspondence to huang@mitlns.mit.edu ; 18 pages and 9 EPS figures, using REVTeX and BoxedEPS macros