2003/07/31 by Carlos Barceló, Carlos Barcelo, Stefano Liberati +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #astro-ph #cond-mat #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.68.053613
published as Phys.Rev. A68 (2003) 053613 · 18 pages; uses revtex4. V2: Added brief discussion of "Bose-Nova" phenomenon, and appropriate references
arxiv created 2003/08/14 · openalex publication_date 2003/11/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC's) have recently been the subject of considerable study as possible analog models of general relativity. In particular it was shown that the propagation of phase perturbations in a BEC can, under certain conditions, closely mimic the dynamics of scalar quantum fields in curved space-times. In two previous papers [Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 18, 3735 (2003); Int. J. Mod. Phys. D (to be published), e-print gr-qc/0305061] we noted that a varying scattering length in the BEC corresponds to a varying speed of light in the ``effective metric.'' Recent experiments have indeed achieved a controlled tuning of the scattering length in 85Rb. In this paper we shall discuss the prospects for the use of this particular experimental effect to test some of the predictions of semiclassical quantum gravity, for instance, particle production in an expanding universe. We stress that these effects are generally much larger than the Hawking radiation expected from causal horizons, and so there are much better chances for their detection in the near future.