1998/10/21 by Siu A. Chin, Chin, Siu A., Harald A. Forbert +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed Matter (cond-mat) #FOS: Physical sciences #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/9810269
7 pages plus 4 figures
arxiv created 1998/10/21 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
When a sizable, hard-sphere-like impurity is placed in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, it will create a hole in the condensate wave function. Since it costs more energy to drill a hole at the wave function's maximum (near the trap center) than at its minimum (near the trap edge), the impurity will be expelled from the condensate. This suggests that C-60 molecules freely falling through a condensate of atomic hydrogen may be deflected by a radial acceleration comparable to g. The scattered fullerenes would then form a characteristic banded density pattern outside of the trap. The detection of these deflected molecules can be used to identify the onset of Bose-Einstein condensation.