Quantum phase slips: from condensed matter to ultracold quantum gases

Universal Dynamics of Rogue Waves in a Quenched Spinor Bose Condensate

Isolated many-body systems far from equilibrium may exhibit scaling dynamics with universal exponents indicating the proximity of the time evolution to a nonthermal fixed point. We find universal dynamics connected with the occurrence of extreme wave excitations in the mutually coupled magnetic components of a spinor gas which propagate in an effectively random potential. The frequency of these rogue waves is affected by the time-varying spatial correlation length of the potential, giving rise to an additional exponent δ_{c}≃1/3 for temporal scaling, which is different from the exponent β_{V}≃1/4 characterizing the scaling of the correlation length ℓ_{V}∼t^{β_{V}} in time. As a result of the caustics, i.e., focusing events, real-time instanton defects appear in the Larmor phase of the spin-1 system as vortices in space and time. The temporal correlations governing the instanton occurrence frequency scale as t^{δ_{I}}. This suggests that the universality class of a nonthermal fixed point could be characterized by different, mutually related exponents defining the evolution in time and space, respectively. Our results have a strong relevance for understanding pattern coarsening from first principles and potential implications for dynamics ranging from the early Universe to geophysical dynamics and microphysics.

Critical Transport and Vortex Dynamics in a Thin Atomic Josephson Junction

We study the onset of dissipation in an atomic Josephson junction between Fermi superfluids in the molecular Bose-Einstein condensation limit of strong attraction. Our simulations identify the critical population imbalance and the maximum Josephson current delimiting dissipationless and dissipative transport, in quantitative agreement with recent experiments. We unambiguously link dissipation to vortex ring nucleation and dynamics, demonstrating that quantum phase slips are responsible for the observed resistive current. Our work directly connects microscopic features with macroscopic dissipative transport, providing a comprehensive description of vortex ring dynamics in three-dimensional inhomogeneous constricted superfluids at zero and finite temperatures.

Oscillations and Decay of Superfluid Currents in a One-Dimensional Bose Gas on a Ring

We study the time evolution of a supercurrent imprinted on a one-dimensional ring of interacting bosons in the presence of a defect created by a localized barrier. Depending on interaction strength and temperature, we identify various dynamical regimes where the current oscillates, is self-trapped, or decays with time. We show that the dynamics is captured by a dual Josephson model and involve phase slips of thermal or quantum nature.