2017/10/31 by S. Eckel, A. Kumar, T. Jacobson +4 · 166 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Metric expansion of space #Nonlinear system #Phonon #Production (economics) #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Redshift #Soliton #Universe #Vortex #cond-mat.quant-gas #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevx.8.021021
published in Physical Review X 8(2) (American Physical Society) · 12 pages, 7 figures
openalex publication_date 2018/04/19 · arxiv created 2018/04/20 · arxiv updated 2018/04/23 · openalex created_date 2018/05/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We study the dynamics of a supersonically expanding ring-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate both experimentally and theoretically. The expansion redshifts long-wavelength excitations, as in an expanding universe. After expansion, energy in the radial mode leads to the production of bulk topological excitations - solitons and vortices - driving the production of a large number of azimuthal phonons and, at late times, causing stochastic persistent currents. These complex nonlinear dynamics, fueled by the energy stored coherently in one mode, are reminiscent of a type of "preheating" that may have taken place at the end of inflation.