Experimental observation of oscillating and interacting matter wave dark solitons

Obstruction to ergodicity in nonlinear Schrödinger equations with resonant potentials

We identify a class of trapping potentials in cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equations (NLSEs) that make them nonintegrable, but prevent the emergence of power spectra associated with ergodicity. The potentials are characterized by equidistant energy spectra (e.g., the harmonic-oscillator trap), which give rise to a large number of resonances enhancing the nonlinearity. In a broad range of dynamical solutions, spanning the regimes in which the nonlinearity may be either weak or strong in comparison with the linear part of the NLSE, the power spectra are shaped as narrow (quasidiscrete), evenly spaced spikes, unlike generic truly continuous (ergodic) spectra. We develop an analytical explanation for the emergence of these spectral features in the case of weak nonlinearity. In the strongly nonlinear regime, the presence of such structures is tracked numerically by performing simulations with random initial conditions. Some potentials that prevent ergodicity in this manner are of direct relevance to Bose-Einstein condensates: they naturally appear in 1D, 2D, and 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equations (GPEs), the quintic version of these equations, and a two-component GPE system.

Ultrawide Dark Solitons and Droplet-Soliton Coexistence in a Dipolar Bose Gas with Strong Contact Interactions

We look into dark solitons in a quasi-1D dipolar Bose gas and in a quantum droplet. We derive the analytical solitonic solution of a Gross-Pitaevskii-like equation accounting for beyond mean-field effects. The results show there is a certain critical value of the dipolar interactions, for which the width of a motionless soliton diverges. Moreover, there is a peculiar solution of the motionless soliton with a nonzero density minimum. We also present the energy spectrum of these solitons with an additional excitation subbranch appearing. Finally, we perform a series of numerical experiments revealing the coexistence of a dark soliton inside a quantum droplet.

Dynamical instability of 3D stationary and traveling planar dark solitons

Here we revisit the topic of stationary and propagating solitonic excitations in self-repulsive three-dimensional (3D) Bose-Einstein condensates by quantitatively comparing theoretical analysis and associated numerical computations with our experimental results. Motivated by numerous experimental efforts, including our own herein, we use fully 3D numerical simulations to explore the existence, stability, and evolution dynamics of planar dark solitons. This also allows us to examine their instability-induced decay products including solitonic vortices and vortex rings. In the trapped case and with no adjustable parameters, our numerical findings are in correspondence with experimentally observed coherent structures. Without a longitudinal trap, we identify numerically exact traveling solutions and quantify how their transverse destabilization threshold changes as a function of the solitary wave speed.

Motion of dark solitons in a non-uniform flow of Bose-Einstein condensate

We study motion of dark solitons in a non-uniform one-dimensional flow of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Our approach is based on Hamiltonian mechanics applied to the particle-like behavior of dark solitons in a slightly non-uniform and slowly changing surrounding. In one-dimensional geometry, the condensate's wave function undergoes the jump-like behavior across the soliton, and this leads to generation of the counterflow in the background condensate. For a correct description of soliton's dynamics, the contributions of this counterflow to the momentum and energy of the soliton are taken into account. The resulting Hamilton equations are reduced to the Newton-like equation for the soliton's path, and this Newton equation is solved in several typical situations. The analytical results are confirmed by numerical calculations.

Pattern Formation in One-Dimensional Polaron Systems and Temporal Orthogonality Catastrophe

Recent studies have demonstrated that higher than two-body bath-impurity correlations are not important for quantitatively describing the ground state of the Bose polaron. Motivated by the above, we employ the so-called Gross Ansatz (GA) approach to unravel the stationary and dynamical properties of the homogeneous one-dimensional Bose-polaron for different impurity momenta and bath-impurity couplings. We explicate that the character of the equilibrium state crossovers from the quasi-particle Bose polaron regime to the collective-excitation stationary dark-bright soliton for varying impurity momentum and interactions. Following an interspecies interaction quench the temporal orthogonality catastrophe is identified, provided that bath-impurity interactions are sufficiently stronger than the intraspecies bath ones, thus generalizing the results of the confined case. This catastrophe originates from the formation of dispersive shock wave structures associated with the zero-range character of the bath-impurity potential. For initially moving impurities, a momentum transfer process from the impurity to the dispersive shock waves via the exerted drag force is demonstrated, resulting in a final polaronic state with reduced velocity. Our results clearly demonstrate the crucial role of non-linear excitations for determining the behavior of the one-dimensional Bose polaron.

Quantum Dark Solitons in the 1D Bose Gas: From Single to Double Dark-Solitons

We study quantum double dark-solitons, which give pairs of notches in the density profiles, by constructing corresponding quantum states in the Lieb–Liniger model for the one-dimensional Bose gas. Here, we expect that the Gross–Pitaevskii (GP) equation should play a central role in the long distance mean-field behavior of the 1D Bose gas. We first introduce novel quantum states of a single dark soliton with a nonzero winding number. We show them by exactly evaluating not only the density profile but also the profiles of the square amplitude and phase of the matrix element of the field operator between the N-particle and (N−1)-particle states. For elliptic double dark-solitons, the density and phase profiles of the corresponding states almost perfectly agree with those of the classical solutions, respectively, in the weak coupling regime. We then show that the scheme of the mean-field product state is quite effective for the quantum states of double dark solitons. Assigning the ideal Gaussian weights to a sum of the excited states with two particle-hole excitations, we obtain double dark-solitons of distinct narrow notches with different depths. We suggest that the mean-field product state should be well approximated by the ideal Gaussian weighted sum of the low excited states with a pair of particle-hole excitations. The results of double dark-solitons should be fundamental and useful for constructing quantum multiple dark-solitons.

Systematic vector solitary waves from their linear limits in one-dimensional n-component Bose-Einstein condensates

We systematically construct a series of vector solitary waves in harmonically trapped one-dimensional three-, four-, and five-component Bose-Einstein condensates. These stationary states are continued in chemical potentials from the analytically tractable low-density linear limit of respective states, as independent linear quantum harmonic oscillator states, to the high-density nonlinear Thomas-Fermi regime. A systematic interpolation procedure is proposed to achieve this sequential continuation via a trajectory in the multidimensional space of the chemical potentials. The Bogoliubov-de Gennes spectral analysis shows that all of the states considered herein can be fully stabilized in suitable chemical potential intervals in the Thomas-Fermi regime. Finally, we present some typical SU(n)-rotation-induced and driving-induced dynamics. This method can be extended to higher dimensions and shows significant promise for finding a wide range of solitary waves ahead.

Multivalley dark solitons in multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates with repulsive interactions

We obtain multivalley dark soliton solutions with asymmetric or symmetric profiles in multicomponent repulsive Bose-Einstein condensates by developing the Darboux transformation method. We demonstrate that the width-dependent parameters of solitons significantly affect the velocity ranges and phase jump regions of multivalley dark solitons, in sharp contrast to scalar dark solitons. For double-valley dark solitons, we find that the phase jump is in the range [0,2π], which is quite different from that of the usual single-valley dark soliton. Based on our results, we argue that the phase jump of an n-valley dark soliton could be in the range [0,nπ], supported by our analysis extending up to five-component condensates. The interaction between a double-valley dark soliton and a single-valley dark soliton is further investigated, and we reveal a striking collision process in which the double-valley dark soliton is transformed into a breather after colliding with the single-valley dark soliton. Our analyses suggest that this breather transition exists widely in the collision processes involving multivalley dark solitons. The possibilities for observing these multivalley dark solitons in related Bose-Einstein condensates experiments are discussed.

Scattering of Matter Wave Solitons on Localized Potentials

We study the reflection and transmission properties of matter wave solitons impinging on localized scattering potentials in one spatial dimension. By mean field analysis we identify regimes where the solitons behave more like waves or more like particles as a result of the interplay between the dispersive wave propagation and the attractive interactions between the atoms. For a bright soliton propagating together with a dark soliton void in a two-species Bose-Einstein condensate, we find different reflection and transmission properties of the dark and the bright components.

Machine-learning enhanced dark soliton detection in Bose-Einstein condensates

Most data in cold-atom experiments comes from images, the analysis of which is limited by our preconceptions of the patterns that could be present in the data. We focus on the well-defined case of detecting dark solitons-appearing as local density depletions in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)-using a methodology that is extensible to the general task of pattern recognition in images of cold atoms. Studying soliton dynamics over a wide range of parameters requires the analysis of large datasets, making the existing human-inspection-based methodology a significant bottleneck. Here we describe an automated classification and positioning system for identifying localized excitations in atomic BECs utilizing deep convolutional neural networks to eliminate the need for human image examination. Furthermore, we openly publish our labeled dataset of dark solitons, the first of its kind, for further machine learning research.

Collisions of Three-Component Vector Solitons in Bose-Einstein Condensates

Ultracold gases provide an unprecedented level of control for the investigation of soliton dynamics and collisions. We present a scheme for deterministically preparing pairs of three-component solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Our method is based on local spin rotations which simultaneously imprint suitable phase and density distributions. This enables us to observe striking collisional properties of the vector degree of freedom which naturally arises for the coherent nature of the emerging multicomponent solitons. We find that the solitonic properties in the quasi-one-dimensional system are quantitatively described by the integrable repulsive three-component Manakov model.

Magnetic Solitons in a Spin-1 Bose-Einstein Condensate

Vector solitons are a type of solitary or nonspreading wave packet occurring in a nonlinear medium composed of multiple components. As such, a variety of synthetic systems can be constructed to explore their properties, from nonlinear optics to ultracold atoms, and even in metamaterials. Bose-Einstein condensates have a rich panoply of internal hyperfine levels, or spin components, which make them a unique platform for exploring these solitary waves. However, existing experimental work has focused largely on binary systems confined to the Manakov limit of the nonlinear equations governing the soliton behavior, where quantum magnetism plays no role. Here we observe, using a "magnetic shadowing" technique, a new type of soliton in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, one that exists only when the underlying interactions are antiferromagnetic and which is deeply embedded within a full spin-1 quantum system. Our approach opens up a vista for future studies of "solitonic matter" whereby multiple solitons interact with one another at deterministic locations.

Creating solitons with controllable and near-zero velocity in Bose-Einstein condensates

Established techniques for deterministically creating dark solitons in repulsively interacting atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) can only access a narrow range of soliton velocities. Because velocity affects the stability of individual solitons and the properties of soliton-soliton interactions, this technical limitation has hindered experimental progress. Here we create dark solitons in highly anisotropic cigar-shaped BECs with arbitrary position and velocity by simultaneously engineering the amplitude and phase of the condensate wave function, improving upon previous techniques which explicitly manipulated only the condensate phase. The single dark soliton solution present in true one-dimensional (1D) systems corresponds to the kink soliton in anisotropic three-dimensional systems and is joined by a host of additional dark solitons, including vortex ring and solitonic vortex solutions. We readily create dark solitons with speeds from zero to half the sound speed. The observed soliton oscillation frequency suggests that we imprinted solitonic vortices, which for our cigar-shaped system are the only stable solitons expected for these velocities. Our numerical simulations of 1D BECs show this technique to be equally effective for creating kink solitons when they are stable. We demonstrate the utility of this technique by deterministically colliding dark solitons with domain walls in two-component spinor BECs.

Dynamical Phase Transition from Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Dark Solitons

By holographic duality, we identify a novel dynamical phase transition which results from the temperature dependence of nonequilibrium dynamics of dark solitons in a superfluid. For a nonequilibrium superfluid system with an initial density of dark solitons, there exists a critical temperature T_{d}, above which the system relaxes to equilibrium by producing sound waves, while below which it goes through an intermediate phase with a finite density of vortex-antivortex pairs. In particular, as T_{d} is approached from below, the density of vortex pairs scales as (T_{d}-T)^{γ} with the critical exponent γ=1/2.

Quantum equilibration of the double-proton transfer in a model system porphine

The equilibration of the double proton transfer in porphine is demonstrated using a model system Hamiltonian. This highly coherent process could be witnessed experimentally using state-of-the-art femtosecond spectroscopy.

Balancing long-range interactions and quantum pressure: Solitons in the Hamiltonian mean-field model

The Hamiltonian mean-field (HMF) model describes particles on a ring interacting via a cosine interaction, or equivalently, rotors coupled by infinite-range XY interactions. Conceived as a generic statistical mechanical model for long-range interactions such as gravity (of which the cosine is the first Fourier component), it has recently been used to account for self-organization in experiments on cold atoms with long-range optically mediated interactions. The significance of the HMF model lies in its ability to capture the universal effects of long-range interactions and yet be exactly solvable in the canonical ensemble. In this work we consider the quantum version of the HMF model in one dimension and provide a classification of all possible stationary solutions of its generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GGPE), which is both nonlinear and nonlocal. The exact solutions are Mathieu functions that obey a nonlinear relation between the wave function and the depth of the mean-field potential, and we identify them as bright solitons. Using a Galilean transformation these solutions can be boosted to finite velocity and are increasingly localized as the mean-field potential becomes deeper. In contrast to the usual local GPE, the HMF case features a tower of solitons, each with a different number of nodes. Our results suggest that long-range interactions support solitary waves in a novel manner relative to the short-range case.

Solitons in spin-orbit-coupled spin-2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the different types of matter-wave solitons in spin-orbit-coupled spin-2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates. Using mean-field theory and adopting the multiscale perturbation method, the original five-component Gross-Pitaevskii spin-orbit-coupled spin-2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate model can be reduced to a single effective nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which allows us to find analytical soliton solutions of this system. In this way, for different regimes of the spin-orbit coupling, Raman coupling, and interatomic interactions, we find approximate bright and dark soliton solutions. Particularly, the type of solitons depends on the dispersion properties of the system. When the lowest-energy band has a single-well structure, we find there only exist positive mass bright or dark solitons due to the dispersion coefficient of effective nonlinear Shrödinger equation always positive. However, when the lowest-energy band has a double-well structure, there will appear positive (negative) mass bright or dark solitons because the sign of the dispersion coefficient can be positive (negative) under different momentum. We employ direct numerical simulation of the original five-component Gross-Pitaevskii equations to confirm the analytical results.

Flemish Strings of Magnetic Solitons and a Nonthermal Fixed Point in a One-Dimensional Antiferromagnetic Spin-1 Bose Gas

Thermalization in a quenched one-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin-1 Bose gas is shown to proceed via a nonthermal fixed point through annihilation of Flemish-string bound states of magnetic solitons. A possible experimental situation is discussed.

Rotating polygonal depression soliton clusters on the inner surface of a liquid ring

We report an experimental observation of rotating depression soliton sets on the inner surface of a viscous liquid ring, carrying background waves. These occur within a rotating shallow layer of oil inside a stationary cylindrical container. The solitons are organized either in single, two, or regular polygonal (triangle and hexagon) clusters; they travel in unison at a higher speed than the background traveling waves. The spectral power density reveals a possible energy exchange between the soliton clusters and the background mixed radial-azimuthal modulations through wave radiation.

Dynamical Critical Scaling of Long-Range Interacting Quantum Magnets

Slow quenches of the magnetic field across the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition of spin systems produce heat. In systems with short-range interactions the heat exhibits universal power-law scaling as a function of the quench rate, known as Kibble-Zurek scaling. In this work we analyze slow quenches of the magnetic field in the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model, which describes fully connected quantum spins. We analytically determine the quantum contribution to the residual heat as a function of the quench rate δ by means of a Holstein-Primakoff expansion about the mean-field value. Unlike in the case of short-range interactions, scaling laws in the LMG model are only found for a ramp starting or ending at the critical point. If instead the ramp is symmetric, as in the typical Kibble-Zurek scenario, then the number of excitations exhibits a crossover behavior as a function of δ and tends to a constant in the thermodynamic limit. Previous, and seemingly contradictory, theoretical studies are identified as specific limits of this dynamics. Our results can be tested on several experimental platforms, including quantum gases and trapped ions.

Three-Component Soliton States in Spinor F=1 Bose-Einstein Condensates

Dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates are an exceptionally versatile test bed for the investigation of novel solitonic structures. While matter-wave solitons in one- and two-component systems have been the focus of intense research efforts, an extension to three components has never been attempted in experiments. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the existence of robust dark-bright-bright (DBB) and dark-dark-bright solitons in a multicomponent F=1 condensate. We observe lifetimes on the order of hundreds of milliseconds for these structures. Our theoretical analysis, based on a multiscale expansion method, shows that small-amplitude solitons of these types obey universal long-short wave resonant interaction models, namely, Yajima-Oikawa systems. Our experimental and analytical findings are corroborated by direct numerical simulations highlighting the persistence of, e.g., the DBB soliton states, as well as their robust oscillations in the trap.

Nonadiabatic dynamics of the excited states for the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model

We theoretically investigate the impact of the excited state quantum phase transition on the adiabatic dynamics for the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model. Using a time-dependent protocol, we continuously change a model parameter and then discuss the scaling properties of the system especially close to the excited state quantum phase transition where we find that these depend on the energy eigenstate. On top, we show that the mean-field dynamics with the time-dependent protocol gives the correct scaling and expectation values in the thermodynamic limit even for the excited states.

Collective Modes of a Soliton Train in a Fermi Superfluid

We characterize the collective modes of a soliton train in a quasi-one-dimensional Fermi superfluid, using a mean-field formalism. In addition to the expected Goldstone and Higgs modes, we find novel long-lived gapped modes associated with oscillations of the soliton cores. The soliton train has an instability that depends strongly on the interaction strength and the spacing of solitons. It can be stabilized by filling each soliton with an unpaired fermion, thus forming a commensurate Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase. We find that such a state is always dynamically stable, which paves the way for realizing long-lived FFLO states in experiments via phase imprinting.

Kinetic theory of dark solitons with tunable friction

We study controllable friction in a system consisting of a dark soliton in a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to a noninteracting Fermi gas. The fermions act as impurity atoms, not part of the original condensate, that scatter off of the soliton. We study semiclassical dynamics of the dark soliton, a particlelike object with negative mass, and calculate its friction coefficient. Surprisingly, it depends periodically on the ratio of interspecies (impurity-condensate) to intraspecies (condensate-condensate) interaction strengths. By tuning this ratio, one can access a regime where the friction coefficient vanishes. We develop a general theory of stochastic dynamics for negative-mass objects and find that their dynamics are drastically different from their positive-mass counterparts: they do not undergo Brownian motion. From the exact phase-space probability distribution function (i.e., in position and velocity), we find that both the trajectory and lifetime of the soliton are altered by friction, and the soliton can undergo Brownian motion only in the presence of friction and a confining potential. These results agree qualitatively with experimental observations by Aycock et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 114, 2503 (2017)] in a similar system with bosonic impurity scatterers.

Brownian motion of solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We observed and controlled the Brownian motion of solitons. We launched solitonic excitations in highly elongated [Formula: see text] Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and showed that a dilute background of impurity atoms in a different internal state dramatically affects the soliton. With no impurities and in one dimension (1D), these solitons would have an infinite lifetime, a consequence of integrability. In our experiment, the added impurities scatter off the much larger soliton, contributing to its Brownian motion and decreasing its lifetime. We describe the soliton's diffusive behavior using a quasi-1D scattering theory of impurity atoms interacting with a soliton, giving diffusion coefficients consistent with experiment.

Dark soliton pair of ultracold Fermi gases for a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation model

We present the theoretical investigation of dark soliton pair solutions for one-dimensional as well as three-dimensional generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GGPE) which models the ultracold Fermi gas during Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-Bose-Einstein condensates crossover. Without introducing any integrability constraint and via the self-similar approach, the three-dimensional solution of GGPE is derived based on the one-dimensional dark soliton pair solution, which is obtained through a modified F-expansion method combined with a coupled modulus-phase transformation technique. We discovered the oscillatory behavior of the dark soliton pair from the theoretical results obtained for the three-dimensional case. The calculated period agrees very well with the corresponding reported experimental result [Weller et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 130401 (2008)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.101.130401], demonstrating the applicability of the theoretical treatment presented in this work.

Crossover from Classical to Quantum Kibble-Zurek Scaling

The Kibble-Zurek (KZ) hypothesis identifies the relevant time scales in out-of-equilibrium dynamics of critical systems employing concepts valid at equilibrium: It predicts the scaling of the defect formation immediately after quenches across classical and quantum phase transitions as a function of the quench speed. Here, we study the crossover between the scaling dictated by a slow quench, which is ruled by the critical properties of the quantum phase transition, and the excitations due to a faster quench, where the dynamics is often well described by the classical model. We estimate the value of the quench rate that separates the two regimes and support our argument using numerical simulations of the out-of-equilibrium many-body dynamics. For the specific case of a ϕ^{4} model we demonstrate that the two regimes exhibit two different power-law scalings, which are in agreement with the KZ theory when applied to the quantum and classical cases. This result contributes to extending the prediction power of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and to providing insight into recent experimental observations in systems of cold atoms and ions.

Solitons riding on solitons and the quantum Newton's cradle

The reduced dynamics for dark and bright soliton chains in the one-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation is used to study the behavior of collective compression waves corresponding to Toda lattice solitons. We coin the term hypersoliton to describe such solitary waves riding on a chain of solitons. It is observed that in the case of dark soliton chains, the formulated reduction dynamics provides an accurate an robust evolution of traveling hypersolitons. As an application to Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a standard harmonic potential, we study the case of a finite dark soliton chain confined at the center of the trap. When the central chain is hit by a dark soliton, the energy is transferred through the chain as a hypersoliton that, in turn, ejects a dark soliton on the other end of the chain that, as it returns from its excursion up the trap, hits the central chain repeating the process. This periodic evolution is an analog of the classical Newton's cradle.

Energy-exchange collisions of dark-bright-bright vector solitons

We find a dark component guiding the practically interesting bright-bright vector one-soliton to two different parametric domains giving rise to different physical situations by constructing a more general form of three-component dark-bright-bright mixed vector one-soliton solution of the generalized Manakov model with nine free real parameters. Moreover our main investigation of the collision dynamics of such mixed vector solitons by constructing the multisoliton solution of the generalized Manakov model with the help of Hirota technique reveals that the dark-bright-bright vector two-soliton supports energy-exchange collision dynamics. In particular the dark component preserves its initial form and the energy-exchange collision property of the bright-bright vector two-soliton solution of the Manakov model during collision. In addition the interactions between bound state dark-bright-bright vector solitons reveal oscillations in their amplitudes. A similar kind of breathing effect was also experimentally observed in the Bose-Einstein condensates. Some possible ways are theoretically suggested not only to control this breathing effect but also to manage the beating, bouncing, jumping, and attraction effects in the collision dynamics of dark-bright-bright vector solitons. The role of multiple free parameters in our solution is examined to define polarization vector, envelope speed, envelope width, envelope amplitude, grayness, and complex modulation of our solution. It is interesting to note that the polarization vector of our mixed vector one-soliton evolves in sphere or hyperboloid depending upon the initial parametric choices.

Transitions from order to disorder in multiple dark and multiple dark-bright soliton atomic clouds

We have performed a systematic study quantifying the variation of solitary wave behavior from that of an ordered cloud resembling a "crystalline" configuration to that of a disordered state that can be characterized as a soliton "gas." As our illustrative examples, we use both one-component, as well as two-component, one-dimensional atomic gases very close to zero temperature, where in the presence of repulsive interatomic interactions and of a parabolic trap, a cloud of dark (dark-bright) solitons can form in the one- (two-) component system. We corroborate our findings through three distinct types of approaches, namely a Gross-Pitaevskii type of partial differential equation, particle-based ordinary differential equations describing the soliton dynamical system, and Monte Carlo simulations for the particle system. We define an "empirical" order parameter to characterize the order of the soliton lattices and study how this changes as a function of the strength of the "thermally" (i.e., kinetically) induced perturbations. As may be anticipated by the one-dimensional nature of our system, the transition from order to disorder is gradual without, apparently, a genuine phase transition ensuing in the intermediate regime.

Generalized dark-bright vector soliton solution to the mixed coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations

We have constructed a dark-bright N-soliton solution with 4N+3 real parameters for the physically interesting system of mixed coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. Using this as well as an asymptotic analysis we have investigated the interaction between dark-bright vector solitons. Each colliding dark-bright one-soliton at the asymptotic limits includes more coupling parameters not only in the polarization vector but also in the amplitude part. Our present solution generalizes the dark-bright soliton in the literature with parametric constraints. By exploiting the role of such coupling parameters we are able to control certain interaction effects, namely beating, breathing, bouncing, attraction, jumping, etc., without affecting other soliton parameters. Particularly, the results of the interactions between the bound state dark-bright vector solitons reveal oscillations in their amplitudes under certain parametric choices. A similar kind of effect was also observed experimentally in the BECs. We have also characterized the solutions with complicated structure and nonobvious wrinkle to define polarization vector, envelope speed, envelope width, envelope amplitude, grayness, and complex modulation. It is interesting to identify that the polarization vector of the dark-bright one-soliton evolves on a spherical surface instead of a hyperboloid surface as in the bright-bright case of the mixed coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations.

Damped-driven granular chains: an ideal playground for dark breathers and multibreathers

By applying an out-of-phase actuation at the boundaries of a uniform chain of granular particles, we demonstrate experimentally that time-periodic and spatially localized structures with a nonzero background (so-called dark breathers) emerge for a wide range of parameter values and initial conditions. We demonstrate a remarkable control over the number of breathers within the multibreather pattern that can be "dialed in" by varying the frequency or amplitude of the actuation. The values of the frequency (or amplitude) where the transition between different multibreather states occurs are predicted accurately by the proposed theoretical model, which is numerically shown to support exact dark breather and multibreather solutions. Moreover, we visualize detailed temporal and spatial profiles of breathers and, especially, of multibreathers using a full-field probing technology and enable a systematic favorable comparison among theory, computation, and experiments. A detailed bifurcation analysis reveals that the dark and multibreather families are connected in a "snaking" pattern, providing a roadmap for the identification of such fundamental states and their bistability in the laboratory.

Quantized superfluid vortex rings in the unitary Fermi gas

In a recent article, Yefsah et al. [Nature (London) 499, 426 (2013)] report the observation of an unusual excitation in an elongated harmonically trapped unitary Fermi gas. After phase imprinting a domain wall, they observe oscillations almost an order of magnitude slower than predicted by any theory of domain walls which they interpret as a "heavy soliton" of inertial mass some 200 times larger than the free fermion mass or 50 times larger than expected for a domain wall. We present compelling evidence that this "soliton" is instead a quantized vortex ring, by showing that the main aspects of the experiment can be naturally explained within the framework of time-dependent superfluid density functional theories.

Complex mode dynamics of coupled wave oscillators

We explore how nonlinear coherent waves localized in a few wells of a periodic potential can act analogously to a chain of coupled oscillators. We identify the small-amplitude oscillation modes of these "coupled wave oscillators" and find that they can be extended into the large amplitude regime, where some "ring" for long times. We also reveal the appearance of complex behavior such as the breakdown of Josephson-like oscillations, the destabilization of fundamental oscillation modes, and the emergence of chaotic oscillations for large amplitude excitations. We show that the dynamics may be accurately described by a discrete model with nearest-neighbor coupling, in which the lattice oscillators bear an effective mass.

Particles, holes, and solitons: a matrix product state approach

We introduce a variational method for calculating dispersion relations of translation invariant (1+1)-dimensional quantum field theories. The method is based on continuous matrix product states and can be implemented efficiently. We study the critical Lieb-Liniger model as a benchmark and excellent agreement with the exact solution is found. Additionally, we observe solitonic signatures of Lieb's type II excitation. In addition, a nonintegrable model is introduced where a U(1)-symmetry breaking term is added to the Lieb-Liniger Hamiltonian. For this model we find evidence of a nontrivial bound-state excitation in the dispersion relation.

Matter-wave solutions in Bose-Einstein condensates with harmonic and Gaussian potentials

We study exact matter-wave solutions of the quasi-one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation with the space- and/or time-modulated potential and nonlinearity and the time-dependent gain or loss term in Bose-Einstein condensates. In particular, based on the similarity transformation and symbolic analysis, we report several families of exact solutions of the quasi-one-dimensional GP equation in the combination of the harmonic and Gaussian potentials, in which some physically relevant solutions are described. The stability of the obtained matter-wave solutions is addressed numerically such that some stable solutions are found. Moreover, we also analyze the parameter regimes for the stable solutions. These results may raise the possibility of relative experiments and potential applications.

Control of the symmetry breaking in double-well potentials by the resonant nonlinearity management

We introduce a one-dimensional model of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), combining the double-well potential, which is a usual setting for the onset of spontaneous-symmetry-breaking (SSB) effects, and time-periodic modulation of the nonlinearity, which may be implemented by means of the Feshbach-resonance-management (FRM) technique. Both cases of the nonlinearity that is repulsive or attractive on the average are considered. In the former case, the main effect produced by the application of the FRM is spontaneous self-trapping of the condensate in either of the two potential wells in parameter regimes where it would remain untrapped in the absence of the management. In the weakly nonlinear regime, the frequency of intrinsic oscillations in the FRM-induced trapped state is very close to half the FRM frequency, suggesting that the effect is accounted for by a parametric resonance. In the case of the attractive nonlinearity, the FRM-induced effect is the opposite, i.e., enforced detrapping of a state which is self-trapped in its unmanaged form. In the latter case, the frequency of oscillations of the untrapped mode is close to a quarter of the driving frequency, suggesting that a higher-order parametric resonance may account for this effect.

Quantum and thermal effects of dark solitons in a one-dimensional Bose gas

We numerically study the imprinting and dynamics of dark solitons in a bosonic atomic gas in a tightly confined one-dimensional harmonic trap both with and without an optical lattice. Quantum and thermal fluctuations are synthesized within the truncated Wigner approximation in the quasicondensate description. We track the soliton coordinates and calculate position and velocity uncertainties. We find that the phase fluctuations lower the classically predicted soliton speed and seed instabilities. Individual runs show interactions of solitons with sound waves, splitting, and disappearing solitons.

Matter-wave dark solitons: stochastic versus analytical results

The dynamics of dark matter-wave solitons in elongated atomic condensates are discussed at finite temperatures. Simulations with the stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation reveal a noticeable, experimentally observable spread in individual soliton trajectories, attributed to inherent fluctuations in both phase and density of the underlying medium. Averaging over a number of such trajectories (as done in experiments) washes out such background fluctuations, revealing a well-defined temperature-dependent temporal growth in the oscillation amplitude. The average soliton dynamics is well captured by the simpler dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii equation, both numerically and via an analytically derived equation for the soliton center based on perturbation theory for dark solitons.

Quantum entangled dark solitons formed by ultracold atoms in optical lattices

Inspired by experiments on Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices, we study the quantum evolution of dark soliton initial conditions in the context of the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. An extensive set of quantum measures is utilized in our analysis, including von Neumann and generalized quantum entropies, quantum depletion, and the pair correlation function. We find that quantum effects cause the soliton to fill in. Moreover, soliton-soliton collisions become inelastic, in strong contrast to the predictions of mean-field theory. These features show that the lifetime and collision properties of dark solitons in optical lattices provide clear signals of quantum effects.

Two-dimensional paradigm for symmetry breaking: the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a four-well potential

We study the existence and stability of localized modes in the two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear Schrödinger/Gross-Pitaevskii (NLS/GP) equation with a symmetric four-well potential. Using the corresponding four-mode approximation, we trace the parametric evolution of the trapped stationary modes, starting from the linear limit, and thus derive a complete bifurcation diagram for families of the stationary modes. This provides the picture of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the fundamental 2D setting. In a broad parameter region, the predictions based on the four-mode decomposition are found to be in good agreement with full numerical solutions of the NLS/GP equation. Stability properties of the stationary states coincide with those suggested by the corresponding discrete model in the large-amplitude limit. The dynamics of unstable modes is explored by means of direct simulations. Finally, in addition to the full analysis for the case of the self-attractive nonlinearity, the bifurcation diagram for the case of self-repulsion is briefly considered too.

Dissipation-induced coherent structures in Bose-Einstein condensates

We discuss how to engineer the phase and amplitude of a complex order parameter using localized dissipative perturbations. Our results are applied to generate and control various types of atomic nonlinear matter waves (solitons) by means of localized dissipative defects.