Explicit finite-difference and particle method for the dynamics of mixed Bose-condensate and cold-atom clouds

  • Authors:
  • P. Vignolo;M. L. Chiofalo;M. P. Tosi;Sauro Succi

  • Affiliations:
  • INFM and Classe di Scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy;INFM and Classe di Scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalleri 7, 1-56126 Pisa, Italy;INFM and Classe di Scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalleri 7, 1-56126 Pisa, Italy;Istituto Applicazioni Calcolo CNR "M. Picone" and INFM Roma, Viale del Policlinico 137, I-00161 Roma, Italy

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Computational Physics
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

We present a new numerical method for studying the dynamics of quantum fluids composed of a Bose-Einstein condensate and a cloud of bosonic or fermionic atoms in a mean-field approximation. The method combines an explicit time-marching algorithm, previously developed for Bose-Einstein condensates in a harmonic or optical-lattice potential, with a particle-in-cell approach to the equation of motion for the one-body Wigner distribution function in the cold-atom cloud. The method is tested against known analytical results on the free expansion of a fermion cloud from a cylindrical harmonic trap and is validated by examining how the expansion of the fermionic cloud is affected by the simultaneous expansion of a condensate. We then present original calculations on a condensate and a thermal cloud inside a harmonic well and a superposed optical lattice, by addressing the free expansion of the two components and their oscillations under an applied harmonic force. These results are discussed in the light of relevant theories and experiments.