Fidelity for the quantum evolution of a Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

We investigate fidelity for the quantum evolution of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and reveal its general property with a simple two-component BEC model. We find that, when the initial state is a coherent state, the fidelity decays with time in the ways of exponential, Gaussian, and power law, depending on the initial location, the perturbation strength, as well as the underlying mean-field classical dynamics. In this case we find a clear correspondence between the fast quantum fidelity decay and the dynamical instability of the mean-field system. With the initial state prepared as a maximally entangled state, we find that the behavior of fidelity has no classical correspondence and observe an interesting behavior of the fidelity: periodic revival, where the period is inversely proportional to the number of bosons and the perturbation strength. An experimental observation of the fidelity decay is suggested.