Ultracold atoms in 1D optical lattices: mean field, quantum field, computation, and soliton formation

Abstract

In this work, we highlight the correspondence between two descriptions of a system of ultracold bosons in a one-dimensional optical lattice potential: (1) the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation, a discrete mean-field theory, and (2) the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian, a discrete quantum-field theory. The former is recovered from the latter in the limit of a product of local coherent states. Using a truncated form of these mean-field states as initial conditions, we build quantum analogs to the dark soliton solutions of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation and investigate their dynamical properties in the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian. We also discuss specifics of the numerical methods employed for both our mean-field and quantum calculations, where in the latter case we use the time-evolving block decimation algorithm due to Vidal.