Interface layer of a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate

Abstract

This paper deals with the study of the behavior of the wave functions of a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate near the interface, in the case of strong segregation. This yields a system of two coupled ordinary differential equations for which we want to have estimates on the asymptotic behavior, as the strength of the coupling tends to infinity. As in phase separation models, the leading order profile is a hyperbolic tangent. We construct an approximate solution and use the properties of the associated linearized operator to perturb it into a genuine solution for which we have an asymptotic expansion. We prove that the constructed heteroclinic solutions are linearly nondegenerate, in the natural sense, and that there is a spectral gap, independent of the large interaction parameter, between the zero eigenvalue (due to translations) at the bottom of the spectrum and the rest of the spectrum. Moreover, we prove a uniqueness result which implies that, in fact, the constructed heteroclinic is the unique minimizer (modulo translations) of the associated energy, for which we provide an expansion.