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Generalized Bose-Einstein Condensation into Multiple States in Driven-Dissipative Systems

Daniel Vorberg, Waltraut Wustmann, Roland Ketzmerick, and André Eckardt
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240405 – Published 11 December 2013
Physics logo See Focus story: Shake a Condensate to Spawn Dozens of Them
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Abstract

Bose-Einstein condensation, the macroscopic occupation of a single quantum state, appears in equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics and persists also in the hydrodynamic regime close to equilibrium. Here we show that even when a degenerate Bose gas is driven into a steady state far from equilibrium, where the notion of a single-particle ground state becomes meaningless, Bose-Einstein condensation survives in a generalized form: the unambiguous selection of an odd number of states acquiring large occupations. Within mean-field theory we derive a criterion for when a single state and when multiple states are Bose selected in a noninteracting gas. We study the effect in several driven-dissipative model systems, and propose a quantum switch for heat conductivity based on shifting between one and three selected states.

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  • Received 28 August 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.240405

© 2013 American Physical Society

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Shake a Condensate to Spawn Dozens of Them

Published 20 December 2013

Violently shaking a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms can force them to separate into many condensates, according to simulations. The results should apply to other particles as well.

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Authors & Affiliations

Daniel Vorberg1,2, Waltraut Wustmann1,2, Roland Ketzmerick1,2, and André Eckardt1,*

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Straße 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany
  • 2Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Theoretische Physik, 01187 Dresden, Germany

  • *eckardt@pks.mpg.de

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Issue

Vol. 111, Iss. 24 — 13 December 2013

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