Abstract
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.
Highlights
Cosmological expansion is central to our understanding of the Universe
The condensates used in this work are well described by mean field theory; we compare our measurements to numerical simulations using the stochastic-projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation (SPGPE, see Appendix B), which accurately captures Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) dynamics with thermal fluctuations [42,43]
We explored the physics of a rapidly expanding Bose-Einstein condensate
Summary
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. 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
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