Depletion of the dark soliton: The anomalous mode of the Bogoliubov theory

Abstract

Quantum depletion from an atomic quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate with a dark soliton is studied in a framework of the Bogoliubov theory. Depletion is dominated by an anomalous mode localized in a notch of the condensate wave function. Depletion in an anomalous mode requires a different treatment than depletion without anomalous modes. In particular, quantum depletion in the Bogoliubov vacuum of the anomalous mode is experimentally irrelevant. A dark soliton is initially prepared in a state with minimal depletion, which is not a stationary state of the Bogoliubov theory. The notch fills up with incoherent atoms depleted from the condensate. For realistic parameters the filling time can be as short as 10 ms.