Force on a slow moving impurity due to thermal and quantum fluctuations in a 1D Bose-Einstein condensate
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- UNIV OF QUEENSLAND
We study the drag force acting on an impurity moving through a 1D Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of both quantum and thermal fluctuations. We are able to find exact analytical solutions of the partial differential equations to the level of the Bogoliubov approximation. At zero temperature, we find a nonzero force is exerted on the impurity at subcritical velocities, due to the scattering of quantum fluctuations. We make the following explicit assumptions: far from the impurity the system is in a quantum state given by that of a zero (or finite) temperature Bose-Einstein condensate, and the scattering process generates only causally related reflection/transmission. The results raise unanswered questions in the quantum dynamics associated with the formation of persistent currents.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 962299
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-09-01295; LA-UR-09-1295; PRLTAO; TRN: US0903419
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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