Beyond the ThomasFermi Approximation for Nonlinear Dynamics of Trapped BoseCondensed Gase.pdfVIP

Beyond the Thomas-Fermi Approximation for Nonlinear Dynamics of Trapped Bose-Condensed Gases 1 0 Alexander L. Zubarev∗ and Yeong E. Kim † 0 2 Department of Physics, Purdue University l u West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 J 4 Abstract 2 ] h We present an analytical approximation for nonlinear dynamics of trapped Bose- c e condensed gases. The new approximation is a substantial improvement over the m - Thomas-Fermi approximation and is shown to be applicable for systems with t a a rather small number of atoms N . The calculated aspect ratios after ballis- t s t. tic expansion are found to be in good agreement with those observed in recent a m experiments. - d n o c PACS numbers: 03.75.Fi, 05.30.Jp [ 1 v 2 1 5 7 0 1 0 / t a m - d n o ∗ e-mail: zubareva@ c : † e-mail:yekim@ v i X r a The newly created Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of weakly interacting alkali-metal atoms [1] stimulated a large number of theoretical investigations (see recent reviews [2]). A mean-field approach, based on the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation [3], is the most widely used theory for nonlinear dynamics of trapped Bose-condensed gases at zero temperature. In the limit of a large number of atoms N , the determination of the condensate wave function is simplified by neglecting the kinetic energy term. This approximation is known as the Thomas-Fermi (TF) approximation [4,5]. It has been used quite extensively [7-13], including the explicit time evolution of the condensate ( shape of profiles, aspect ratio etc.) during the expa