Reservoir interactions during Bose-Einstein condensation: modified critical scaling in the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of defect formation

As a test of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) of defect formation, we simulate the Bose-Einstein condensation transition in a toroidally confined Bose gas using the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation (SPGPE), with and without the energy-damping reservoir interaction. Energy-damping alter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2015-07
Main Authors: McDonald, R G, Bradley, A S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer simulation
Condensation
Correlation analysis
Damping
Phase transitions
Scaling
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:As a test of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) of defect formation, we simulate the Bose-Einstein condensation transition in a toroidally confined Bose gas using the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation (SPGPE), with and without the energy-damping reservoir interaction. Energy-damping alters the scaling of the winding number distribution with the quench time - a departure from the universal KZM theory that relies on equilibrium critical exponents. Numerical values are obtained for the correlation-length critical exponent \(\nu\) and the dynamical critical exponent \(z\) for each variant of reservoir interaction theory. The energy-damping reservoir interactions cause significant modification of the dynamical critical exponent of the phase transition, whilst preserving the essential KZM critical scaling behavior. Comparison of numerical and analytical two-point correlation functions further illustrates the effect of energy damping on the correlation length during freeze out.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1507.08357