Example of a Quantum Anomaly in the Physics of Ultracold Gases

Journal Article · Fri Aug 27 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.095302· OSTI ID:21471001

Olshanii, Maxim ^[1]; Perrin, Helene; Lorent, Vincent ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston Massachusetts 02125 (United States)
2. Laboratoire de physique des lasers, Institut Galilee, Universite Paris 13 and CNRS, 99 avenue J.-B. Clement, F-93430 Villetaneuse (France)

In this Letter, we propose an experimental scheme for the observation of a quantum anomaly--quantum-mechanical symmetry breaking - in a two-dimensional harmonically trapped Bose gas. The anomaly manifests itself in a shift of the monopole excitation frequency away from the value dictated by the Pitaevskii-Rosch dynamical symmetry [L. P. Pitaevskii and A. Rosch, Phys. Rev. A 55, R853 (1997)]. While the corresponding classical Gross-Pitaevskii equation and the hydrodynamic equations derived from it do exhibit this symmetry, it is - as we show in our paper - violated under quantization. The resulting frequency shift is of the order of 1% of the carrier, well in reach for modern experimental techniques. We propose using the dipole oscillations as a frequency gauge.

• OSTI ID: 21471001
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 105; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOSE-EINSTEIN GAS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DIPOLES
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EQUATIONS
EXCITATION
FLUIDS
GASES
MECHANICS
MONOPOLES
MULTIPOLES
OSCILLATIONS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
QUANTIZATION
QUANTUM MECHANICS
SYMMETRY
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TRAPPING
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
WAVE EQUATIONS