Dark quantum droplets and solitary waves in beyond-mean-field Bose-Einstein condensate mixtures

Abstract

Quantum liquidlike states of matter have been realized in an ongoing series of experiments with ultracold Bose gases. Using a combination of analytical and numerical methods we identify the specific criteria for the existence of dark solitons in beyond-mean-field binary condensates, revealing how these excitations exist for both repulsive and attractive interactions, the latter leading to dark quantum droplets with properties intermediate between a dark soliton and a quantum droplet. The phenomenology of these excitations is explored within the full parameter space of the model, revealing a spatial profile of the excitation that differs significantly from the Zakharov-Shabat soliton, leading to a negative effective mass that is enhanced in the presence of the quantum fluctuations. Finally the dynamics of pairs of the excitations are explored, showing nonintegrable dynamics and dark soliton bound states in the attractive regime.