Theoretical Studies of Rotating Trapped Atomic Gases

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This proposal describes a theoretical study of the rotational properties of clouds of ultracold atoms.Building on his previous work, the investigator will explore several topical subjects, with the fol-lowing four objectives. (1) He will calculate the topological structures which will form in a rapidlyrotating gases of spin-1 bosons in the presence of magnetic fields. (2) He will determine the kinet-ics of spinning up small clusters of atoms at the nodes of an optical lattice. (3) He will producea practical scheme for creating fields which couple to neutral atoms in the same way that theelectromagnetic fields couple to charged particle. (4) He will study interference between rotatingclouds and demonstrate that an interference experiment can distinguishing condensed and stronglycorrelated rotating states.These projects are motivated by both interest in fundamental physical properties of these coldgases [topics (1), (2), and (4)] and by a desire to produce experimental protocols to create andmeasure exotic states of matter [topics (2), (3), and (4)]. Topic (1) addresses the basic groundstate properties of clouds of rotating atoms. Topic (2) allows the study of fundamental questions ofenergy and entropy transfer in isolated systems, while possibly providing an experimental pathwayto producing analogs of quantum Hall effects. Topic (3) is aimed at producing a valuable tool forexploring vortex physics, quantum Hall effects, the pinning of vortex lattices, and the interplaybetween lattices and quantum Hall effects. Topic (4) studies the basic coherence properties of bothcondensed and correlated states, and provides an experimental strategy for distinguishing thesestates.The investigator will use an array of analytic and computational techniques, related to thoseused in previous projects. These include lowest-Landau-level calculus, field theory, variationalmethods, numerical exact diagonalization, and numerical Monte-Carlo.