Universal scaling laws in the dynamics of a homogeneous unitary bose gas

Journal article

We study the dynamics of an initially degenerate homogeneous Bose gas after an interaction quench to the unitary regime at a magnetic Feshbach resonance. As the cloud decays and heats, it exhibits a crossover from degenerate- to thermal-gas behavior, both of which are characterized by universal scaling laws linking the particle-loss rate to the total atom number N. In the degenerate and thermal regimes, the per-particle loss rate is ∝N^{2/3} and N^{26/9}, respectively. The crossover occurs at a universal kinetic energy per particle and at a universal time after the quench, in units of energy and time set by the gas density. By slowly sweeping the magnetic field away from the resonance and creating a mixture of atoms and molecules, we also map out the dynamics of correlations in the unitary gas, which display a universal temporal scaling with the gas density, and reach a steady state while the gas is still degenerate.

Authors: Eigen, C; Glidden, J; Lopes, R; Navon, N; Hadzibabic, Z

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Volume: 119
• Issue: 25
• Pages: 250404
• Publication date: 2017-12-22
• Acceptance date: 2017-11-22
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.119.250404
• EISSN: 1079-7114
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Pmid: 29303324
• Language: English
• Keywords: Journal Article