At extremely low temperatures, clouds of bosonic atoms form what is known as a Bose-Einstein condensate. Recently, it has become clear that many different types of condensates -- so called fragmented condensates -- exist. In order to tell whether fragmentation occurs or not, it is necessary to solve the full many-body Schroedinger equation, a task that remained elusive for experimentally relevant conditions for many years. In this thesis the first numerically exact solutions of the time-dependent many-body Schroedinger equation for a bosonic Josephson junction are provided and compared to the approximate Gross-Pitaevskii and Bose-Hubbard theories. It is thereby shown that the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates is far more intricate than one would anticipate based on these approximations. A special conceptual innovation in this thesis are optimal lattice models. It is shown how all quantum lattice models of condensed matter physics that are based on Wannier functions, e.g. the Bose/Fermi Hubbard model, can be optimized variationally. This leads to exciting new physics.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"The work under the present review is a doctoral thesis of the well-known Heidelberg University. The topic treated in the 130-page thesis is of great value with several respects. ... Final remarks and outlook complete the thesis together with 6 useful appendices. In addition to extensive references at the end of the first 8 chapters there is a brief bibliography and the Scholar's biography. Colourful figures are very interesting and informative, indeed." (Paninjukunnath Achuthan, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1233, 2012)



Book Information
ISBN 9783642271052
Author Kaspar Sakmann
Format Paperback
Page Count 132
Imprint Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
Publisher Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG