Search arXiv⌕ Search

arXiv · cond-mat/0408528

Effects of collisions against thermal impurities in the dynamics of a trapped fermion gas

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of the dynamical behavior of a gas made of ultracold fermionic atoms, which during their motions can collide with a much smaller number of thermal bosonic impurities. The atoms are confined inside harmonic traps and the interactions between the two species are treated as due to s-wave scattering with a negative scattering length modeling the 40K-87Rb fermion-boson system. We set the fermions into motion by giving a small shift to their trap center and examine two alternative types of initial conditions, referring to (i) a close-to-equilibrium situation in which the two species are at the same temperature (well below the Fermi temperature and well above the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature); and (ii) a far-from-equilibrium case in which the impurities are given a Boltzmann distribution of momenta while the fermions are at very low temperatures. The dynamics of the gas is evaluated by the numerical solution of the Vlasov-Landau equations for the one-body distribution functions, supported by some analytical results on the collisional properties of a fermion gas. We find that the trapped gaseous mixture is close to the collisionless regime for values of the parameters corresponding to current experiments, but can be driven towards a collisional regime even without increasing the strength of the interactions, either by going over to heavier impurity masses or by matching the width of the momentum distribution of the impurities to the Fermi momentum of the fermion gas.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

P. Capuzzi, P. Vignolo, F. Toschi, S. Succi, M. P. Tosi. 2004-08-25. Effects of collisions against thermal impurities in the dynamics of a trapped fermion gas. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.70.043623

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Nanoscale Inclined Four-electrode Ion Traps: Finite-Element Modelling, Floquet Stability, and Surface-Potential Response

Developing miniaturised trapped-ion systems requires electrode architectures that provide controlled radio-frequency (RF) confinement while accounting for nanoscale features and surface-induced perturbations. Here, we present a finite-element investigation of an inclined four-blade RF ion-trap architecture for 171Yb+, combining pseudopotential characterisation, matrix Mathieu analysis, Floquet stability assessment, and localised surface-potential modelling. The architecture incorporates exposed electrode-face features of approximately 99-150 nm within an opposing-electrode separation of 20 um. At an electrode inclination of 6 degrees, an RF amplitude of 150 V, and a drive frequency of 15 MHz, the calculated pseudopotential exhibits directional in-plane barriers of 3.430 and 3.389 meV along the principal diagonal paths. The full RF-potential Hessian, including off-diagonal coupling terms, is used to construct the matrix Mathieu equation. Numerical propagation over one RF period identifies two dominant motional branches with secular-frequency estimates of 1.8137 and 1.8181 MHz. A third, predominantly axial branch exhibits a nominal frequency near 7.90 kHz, although its quantitative resolution is limited by the residual Hessian trace and phase-return drift. Additionally, a four-source electrostatic model is developed to investigate the effects of localised surface potentials on modal electric-field responses. Parametric analysis reveals correlation-dependent suppression and enhancement of normalised response coefficients, with multipliers ranging from approximately 0.5 to 1.5. This study establishes a computational framework for investigating nanoscale inclined blade-electrode architectures, their motional characteristics, and surface-potential responses, while highlighting numerical convergence requirements for reliable three-dimensional trap characterisation.

cond-mat.other↗

Chiral-vibration-induced magnetism and circular dichroism in organic molecules

We investigate the vibrational inverse Faraday effect and transient vibrational circular dichroism in benzene, coronene, and methane at the single-molecule level. We combine density-functional tight-binding calculations with damped normal-mode dynamics. Circularly polarized light excites suitable degenerate infrared-active modes, driving chiral nuclear motion that produces effective magnetic moments. Reversing the pump helicity reverses the vibrational chirality and the sign of the transient dichroic response. These results support a writing-readout scheme in which circularly polarized pumping prepares a chiral vibrational state and transient vibrational circular dichroism probes its handedness. We further examine how molecular symmetry shapes the light-induced chiral response across the three molecular systems. This work provides a valuable platform for exploring all-optical control of magnetism and chiroptical probing at the molecular scale.

cond-mat.other↗

A Construction Framework for Three-Dimensional Topological Magnetic Textures

Three-dimensional magnetic systems offer diverse possibilities for constructing complex topological textures from simpler magnetic configurations. Here, we present different routes for constructing complex three-dimensional magnetic textures from simpler parent configurations and discuss their impact on the topology of the resulting structures. We identify four construction principles: (i) adding transverse modulations, (ii) adding structures, (iii) entangling textures (e.g. braiding, or twisting), and (iv) introducing singularities. Using the skyrmion tube as an explicit parent configuration, we show how these principles give rise to several known three-dimensional magnetic textures. We then apply the same principles to predict novel textures derived from a meron tube, which are confirmed by micromagnetic simulations to be metastable in chiral magnets. Our results establish general principles for the systematic construction and discovery of complex three-dimensional magnetic textures.

cond-mat.other↗