Theory of domain formation in inhomogeneous ferromagnetic dipolar condensates within the truncated Wigner approximation

Abstract

Recent experimental studies of 87 Rb spinor Bose Einstein condensates have shown the existence of a magnetic field driven quantum phase transition accompanied by structure formation on the ferromagnetic side of the transition. In this theoretical study we examine the dynamics of the unstable modes following the transition within the framework of the semiclassical truncated Wigner approximation. In the process we present a systematic study of the effects of the trap, nonlinearities, finite temperature, and dipole-dipole interactions. Starting from an initial state which includes quantum fluctuations, we attempt to make quantitative comparisons with recent experimental data on this system by combining results presented here with those presented previously S. Leslie, J. Guzman, M. Vengalattore, J. D. Sau, M. L. Cohen, and D. M. Stamper-Kurn, Phys. Rev. A 79, 043631 2009. In the process we estimate the contribution of quantum zero-point fluctuations to the domain formation with quantitative accuracy and find discrepancies between the calculations and experiments at the quantitative level, despite the qualitative agreement between theory and experiment. We discuss the possible origins of these discrepancies. Finally, using the strong anisotropy of the trap, we propose ways to observe directly the effects of dipole-dipole interactions on the spinor condensate dynamics.