Impurity in a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double well

Authors :: Mulansky, F.
Mumford, J.
O'Dell, D. H. J.
Source :: Phys. Rev. A 84, 063602 (2011)
Publication Year :: 2011
Abstract: We compare and contrast the mean-field and many-body properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a double well potential with a single impurity atom. The mean-field solutions display a rich structure of bifurcations as parameters such as the boson-impurity interaction strength and the tilt between the two wells are varied. In particular, we study a pitchfork bifurcation in the lowest mean-field stationary solution which occurs when the boson-impurity interaction exceeds a critical magnitude. This bifurcation, which is present for both repulsive and attractive boson-impurity interactions, corresponds to the spontaneous formation of an imbalance in the number of particles between the two wells. If the boson-impurity interaction is large, the bifurcation is associated with the onset of a Schroedinger cat state in the many-body ground state. We calculate the coherence and number fluctuations between the two wells, and also the entanglement entropy between the bosons and the impurity. We find that the coherence can be greatly enhanced at the bifurcation.<br />Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures. The second version contains minor corrections and some better figures (thicker lines)