Equilibration Rates and Negative Absolute Temperatures for Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices

Akos Rapp, Stephan Mandt, and Achim Rosch
Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 220405 – Published 23 November 2010

Abstract

As highly tunable interacting systems, cold atoms in optical lattices are ideal to realize and observe negative absolute temperatures, T<0. We show theoretically that, by reversing the confining potential, stable superfluid condensates at finite momentum and T<0 can be created with low entropy production for attractive bosons. They may serve as “smoking gun” signatures of equilibrated T<0. For fermions, we analyze the time scales needed to equilibrate to T<0. For moderate interactions, the equilibration time is proportional to the square of the radius of the cloud and grows with increasing interaction strengths as atoms and energy are transported by diffusive processes.

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  • Received 5 August 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.220405

© 2010 The American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Akos Rapp, Stephan Mandt, and Achim Rosch

  • Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, 50937 Cologne, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 105, Iss. 22 — 26 November 2010

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