# Excitation-assisted inelastic processes in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

## Abstract

We find that inelastic collisional processes in Bose-Einstein condensates induce local variations of the mean-field interparticle interaction and are accompanied by the creation/annihilation of elementary excitations. The physical picture is demonstrated for the case of 3-body recombination in a trapped condensate. For a high trap barrier the production of high-energy trapped single-particle excitations results in a strong increase of the loss rate of atoms from the condensate.

Since the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation in trapped ultra-cold atomic gases , inelastic collisional processes in these systems attract a lot of attention. Three-body recombination and two-body spin relaxation limit achievable densities of trapped clouds , and spin relaxation in atomic Cs even places severe limitations on achieving the regime of quantum degeneracy . Theoretical studies of 3-body recombination and 2-body spin relaxation in ultra-cold gases provide a valuable information on the mechanisms and rates of these processes (see  for review, and  for the earlier work in hydrogen). These studies rely on a traditional approach of collisional physics in gases: The decay rates are found on the basis of the calculated probability of inelastic transition for a two- or three-body collision in vacuum.

In this Letter we find that inelastic collisional processes in Bose-condensed gases induce local variations of the mean-field interparticle interaction and can become ”excitation-assisted”. We demonstrate this phenomenon for the case of 3-body recombination. The particles produced in the course of recombination have a high kinetic energy and immediately fly away from the point of recombination. Therefore, each recombination event leads to an instantaneous local change of the mean field, i.e. to a change of the field acting on the surrounding particles. In this respect the recombination leads to ”shaking” of the system: The time scale on which the Hamiltonian changes is so short that the wavefunction of the system remains unchanged and, hence, corresponds to a superposition of many eigenstates of a new Hamiltonian. For this reason the recombination event can be accompanied by the creation or annihilation of elementary excitations.

From a general point of view, the concept of ”shaking” (sudden perturbations) was formulated by Migdal and used for calculating the ionization of an atom in $`\beta `$-decay (see, e.g., ). Sudden perturbations in condensed systems are accompanied by many-body collective effects. Dilute Bose-Einstein condensates are unique examples of gases, as the mean-field interparticle interaction makes their behavior in many aspects similar to that of a solid. To some extent, the picture of inelastic processes in these gases resembles, for example, the absorption of light by impurity particles in solids, where the transfer of impurities to an excited state leads to a sudden local change of the polarization of the medium and, hence, to the creation/annihilation of phonons (see, e.g., ).

A distinct feature of ”shaking” in a gaseous condensate concerns the back action of the shaking-created excitations on the condensate. This effect can be strongly pronounced in a trapped condensate. For a high trap barrier created high-energy single-particle excitations are still trapped and collide with condensate particles, removing them from the condensate. Every collision thus produces already two energetic (trapped) atoms which again collide with the condensate etc. As a result, one has a cascade production of non-condensed atoms out of the condensate. Despite a small probability of creating high-energy excitations in the recombination process, this mechanism can significantly increase the total loss rate of Bose-condensed atoms.

We will consider the most important channel of 3-body recombination in a trapped Bose-condensed gas, that is the recombination involving 3 condensate particles. For a single recombination event, the local change of the interparticle interaction, $`\delta H_i`$, can be obtained by considering the center of mass $`𝐫_i`$ of the recombination-produced fast atom and molecule as a force center. Just before the event there are 3 atoms at the point $`𝐫_i`$, and each particle $`j`$ of the sample interacts with this point via the potential $`3U(𝐫_j𝐫_i)`$. After the event this interaction is equal to zero, since the fast atom and molecule fly away from the area of recombination. We will use a point approximation for the interaction potential: $`U(𝐫)=\stackrel{~}{U}\delta (𝐫)`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{U}=4\pi \mathrm{}^2a/m`$, with $`a`$ being the $`s`$-wave scattering length and $`m`$ the atom mass. Then, assuming that the condensate density $`n_0`$ in the BEC spatial region greatly exceeds the density of non-condensed atoms, we obtain

$$\delta \widehat{H}_i=3d^3r_j\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(𝐫_j)U(𝐫_j𝐫_i)\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}(𝐫_j)=3\stackrel{~}{U}\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(𝐫_i)\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}(𝐫_i).$$
(1)   
The field operator of atoms, $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}=\mathrm{\Psi }_0+\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0=n_0^{1/2}`$ is the condensate wavefunction, and $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}`$ is a non-condensed part of the operator. This part refers to quasiparticle excitations, and we linearize $`\delta \widehat{H}_i`$ with respect to $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}`$. Omitting the term $`3n_0\stackrel{~}{U}`$, which is decoupled from the quasiparticle excitations, we obtain

$$\delta \widehat{H}_i=3\stackrel{~}{U}\mathrm{\Psi }_0(\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(𝐫_i)+\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(𝐫_i)).$$
(2)   
The force center represents a sort of a ”hole” in the coordinate space. It has the mass $`3m`$ and can undergo a translational motion. Therefore, the recombination-induced (sudden) change of the Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_0`$ of the excitations can be written as

$$\delta \widehat{H}=𝑑𝐫_i\widehat{\mathrm{\Phi }}^{}(𝐫_i)\{\delta \widehat{H}_i(\mathrm{}^2/6m)\mathrm{\Delta }\}\widehat{\mathrm{\Phi }}(𝐫_i),$$
(3)   
where $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Phi }}(𝐫)`$ is the field operator of the force center. The first term in the rhs of Eq.(3) is related to the interparticle interaction, and the second term to the motion of the force center.

We assume that the kinetic energy of fast particles produced in the recombination process greatly exceeds any other energy scale in the problem, and hence the creation or annihilation of excitations does not influence the energy conservation law for the recombination. Then, according to the general theory of sudden perturbations , in each recombination event the probability of transition of the excitation subsystem to a new state $`f`$, characterized by a different set of quantum numbers for the excitations, is given by $`w_{if}=|i|f|^2`$. The symbol $`i|f`$ stands for the overlap integral between the wavefunction of the initial state $`i`$, which is an eigenstate of the Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_0`$, and the wavefunction of the state $`f`$ which is an eigenstate of the new Hamiltonian $`\widehat{H}_0+\delta \widehat{H}`$. As $`_fw_{if}=1`$, the creation/annihilation of excitations does not change the total recombination rate.

In Thomas-Fermi condensates the most important is the creation of excitations with energies of order the chemical potential $`\mu `$ or larger (see below). These excitations are essentially quasiclassical, and their de Broglie wavelength is much smaller than the spatial size of the condensate. Hence, the probability of recombination accompanied by the creation/annihilation of the excitations can be found in the local density approximation. In other words, as well as the recombination without production of excitations, this process occurs locally at a given point $`𝐫`$ characterized by local values of the chemical potential $`\mu `$ and condensate density $`n_0`$. Hence, one can use the Bogolyubov transformation for the spatially homogeneous case and represent $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{},\mathrm{\Psi }`$ in terms of the creation/annihilation operators $`\widehat{b}_𝐤^{},\widehat{b}_𝐤`$ of excitations characterized by momentum $`𝐤`$:

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(𝐫_i)+\widehat{\mathrm{\Psi }}^{}(𝐫_i)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{V}}\underset{𝐤}{}(\frac{E_k}{ϵ_k})^{1/2}(\widehat{b}_𝐤^{}+\widehat{b}_𝐤)\mathrm{exp}(i\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}_i).$$
(4)   
Here $`E_k=\mathrm{}^2k^2/2m`$ is the energy of a free particle, $`ϵ_k=(E_k^2+2n_0\stackrel{~}{U}E_k)^{1/2}`$ is the Bogolyubov energy of an excitation, and $`V`$ is the normalization volume. The field operator of the force center can be represented in the form $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Phi }}(𝐫)=(1/\sqrt{V})_𝐪\widehat{a}_𝐪\mathrm{exp}(i\mathrm{𝐪𝐫})`$, where $`\widehat{a}_𝐪`$ is the creation operator for the center. Then, using Eqs. (2) and (4), Eq.(3) is transformed to

$$\delta \widehat{H}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{V}}\underset{𝐤,𝐪}{}h_𝐤(\widehat{b}_𝐤^{}+\widehat{b}_𝐤)\widehat{a}_{𝐪𝐤}^{}\widehat{a}_𝐪+\underset{𝐪}{}\frac{\mathrm{}^2q^2}{6m}\widehat{a}_𝐪^{}a_𝐪,$$
(5)   
where

$$h_𝐤=3\stackrel{~}{U}n_0^{1/2}(E_k/\epsilon _k)^{1/2}.$$
(6)   
The first term in the rhs of Eq.(5), originating from the interparticle interaction, couples the motion of the force center with the excitation subsystem and is responsible for creating/annihilating excitations in the recombination process. Considering this term as a small perturbation, we see that a single recombination event can be accompanied by the creation/annihilation of one excitation. Initially the momentum of the force center $`𝐪=0`$, and after the creation of the excitation with momentum $`𝐤`$ (annihilation of the excitation with momentum $`𝐤`$) the center acquires the momentum $`𝐤`$ and the kinetic energy $`E_k/3`$. In a single recombination event, the probabilities of creating and annihilating the excitation with momentum $`𝐤`$ are given by

$`w(N_𝐤N_𝐤+1)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{V}}{\displaystyle \frac{|h_𝐤|^2(1+N_𝐤)}{(\epsilon _k+E_k/3)^2}}`$ (7)   
$`w(N_𝐤N_𝐤1)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{V}}{\displaystyle \frac{|h_𝐤|^2N_𝐤}{(\epsilon _kE_k/3)^2}},`$ (8)   
where $`N_𝐤=[\mathrm{exp}(ϵ_k/T)1]^1`$ are the equilibrium occupation numbers for the excitations at a given temperature $`T`$. Then, for the rate constant of recombination accompanied by the creation of excitations we obtain

$$\alpha _{ex}=\alpha \frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}|h_𝐤|^2\{\frac{1+N_k}{(ϵ_k+E_k/3)^2}\frac{N_k}{(ϵ_kE_k/3)^2}\},$$
(9)   
with $`\alpha `$ being the total (event) rate constant of recombination. The first term in the rhs of Eq.(9) corresponds to spontaneous and stimulated creation of excitations, and the second term to their annihilation.

For $`T\mu `$ the annihilation and stimulated emission of excitations can be omitted. One can put $`N_k=0`$, and Eq.(9) yields

$$\alpha _{\mathrm{ex}}26\alpha (n_0a^3)^{1/2}$$
(10)   
Even with a small value for the parameter $`(n_0a^3)`$ the large numerical factor in front of the expression (10) may imply that the creation of excitations in the course of 3-body recombination cannot be neglected. At the highest densities $`n_03\times 10^{15}`$ cm<sup>-3</sup> of the MIT sodium experiment  Eq.(10) gives $`\alpha _{\mathrm{ex}}/\alpha 0.2`$.

With increasing temperature, the role of annihilation of the excitations increases. However, our calculations from Eq.(9) show that even at $`T\mu `$ the annihilation and stimulated emission of excitations give a small correction to Eq.(10). Only at $`T>10\mu `$ the annihilation dominates over the emission, and $`\alpha _{ex}`$ (9) becomes negative.

The most dramatic is the influence of created excitations on the loss rate of Bose-condensed atoms, which we will discuss for temperatures $`T\mu `$ . For a high trap barrier single-particle excitations with energies $`ϵ_k\mu `$ can be still trapped. These atoms act as ”bullets” penetrating the condensate. In a spherical trap this happens once per half of the oscillation period $`\pi /\omega `$ . A characteristic time which a fast atom with velocity $`v_k`$ spends inside the condensate is $`R/v_k`$, where $`R=(2\mu /m\omega ^2)^{1/2}`$ is the Thomas-Fermi radius of the condensate. Hence, the rate of elastic collisions of the fast atom with condensate atoms is $`n_0\sigma v_k(\omega R/v_k)n_0\sigma c_s`$, with $`\sigma =8\pi a^2`$ being the elastic cross section, and $`c_s=(\mu /m)^{1/2}`$ the sound velocity. In each elastic collision the fast atom transfers on average a half of its energy to the collisional partner and removes it from the condensate. One has then to deal with two energetic atoms, and so on. This cascade process continues until the excitation energy becomes of order the chemical potential $`\mu `$. Accordingly, the number of lost condensate atoms will be $`ϵ_k/\mu `$, and the characteristic time of the cascade process, $`\tau 2(n_0\sigma c_s)^1\mathrm{log}(\epsilon _k/\mu )`$. At realistic densities the time $`\tau `$ is much smaller than the characteristic recombination time $`\tau _r(\alpha n_0^2)^1`$.

The behavior of the excitations produced in the cascade process depends on the ratio $`T/\mu `$. At $`T\mu `$ their damping time strongly increases at energies well below $`\mu `$ (the decay rate is at least much smaller than $`\mu (n_0a^3)^{1/2}n_0\sigma c_s`$ ) and is likely to exceed the recombination time $`\tau _r`$. Therefore, these excitations mostly remain undamped and no longer influence the number of atoms in the (partially destroyed) condensate.

Thus, one has a non-equilibrium ”boiling” Bose-condensed sample: High-energy single-particle excitations, created in the recombination process, initiate a significant destruction of the condensate and the formation of a non-equilibrium non-condensed cloud. The corresponding loss rate of condensate atoms, $`\nu =Ln_0^3d^3r`$, is determined by the rate constant of recombination-induced production of excitations with energies $`\epsilon _k\mu `$, magnified by approximately $`ϵ_k/\mu `$:

$$L=\alpha \frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}\left|\frac{h_𝐤}{ϵ_k+E_k/3}\right|^2\frac{ϵ_k}{\mu }\gamma ,$$
(11)   
where the numerical coefficient $`\gamma 1`$. A precise value of $`\gamma `$ depends on a detailed behavior of damping rates of the excitations and, hence, on the trapping geometry.

The generated non-condensed cloud has energy $`\mu `$ per particle and occupies the volume which is of order the Thomas-Fermi volume of the condensate. Similarly to the condensate, this cloud decays due to 3-body recombination and, in this respect, the quantity $`\nu `$ describes extra losses of (condensate) atoms from the sample.

The integral in Eq.(11) is divergent at high energies, and one should put an upper bound $`ϵ_k=E_B`$, where $`E_B`$ is the trap barrier. The inequality $`E_B\mu `$ justifies that Eq.(11) indeed gives the loss rate due to the production of high-energy excitations ($`\epsilon _k\mu `$). From Eq.(11) we obtain

$$L=\alpha (n_0a^3)^{1/2}\frac{81}{\sqrt{2\pi }}\left(\frac{E_B}{\mu }\right)^{1/2}\gamma .$$
(12)   
As $`\mu =n_{0m}\stackrel{~}{U}`$, where $`n_{0m}`$ is the maximum condensate density, the rate constant $`L`$ is independent of the number of Bose-condensed atoms.

The direct loss rate of Bose-condensed atoms due to 3-body recombination is $`\nu _0=3\alpha n_0^3d^3r`$, as three atoms disappear immediately in each recombination event. Then, using Eq.(12) and the Thomas-Fermi density profile $`n_0(r)=n_{0m}(1r^2/R^2)`$, we express the total loss rate of Bose-condensed atoms, $`\nu _t=\nu _0+Ln_0^3d^3r`$, through $`\nu _0`$:

$$\nu _t=\nu _0[1+\frac{216}{11\sqrt{2\pi }}(n_{0m}a^3)^{1/2}\left(\frac{E_B}{\mu }\right)^{1/2}\gamma ].$$
(13)   
The situation is the same at $`T\mu `$, if the cascade production of excitations with energies $`\epsilon \mu `$ makes the quasiparticle distribution strongly non-equilibrium and prevents the damping of these excitations caused by their interaction with each other and with the thermal cloud. The number of excitations produced in one cascade process is $`E_B/\mu `$, and the number of thermal quasiparticles with $`\epsilon \mu `$ is $`N_\mu (\mu /\mathrm{}\omega )^3`$. Thus, under the condition $`E_B>\mu N_\mu `$ one also has a non-equilibrium ”boiling” Bose-condensed sample, and the loss rate of condensate atoms will be determined by Eq.(13).

Our calculations assume the $`s`$-wave scattering limit $`k|a|1`$ , and hence the maximum trap barrier for which they are valid is $`E_B\mathrm{}^2/2ma^2`$. In the case of $`{}_{}{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}`$, the triplet scattering length is $`a=5.8`$ nm, and $`E_B=75`$ $`\mu `$K. Assuming $`\gamma 1`$, this gives $`L_t3L_0`$ and shows a qualitative significance of our mechanism: the loss rate of Bose-condensed atoms is essentially magnified by the creation of high-energy excitations and their destructive influence on the condensate. To be more quantitative, one has to consider the kinetics of excitations produced in the sample by the initially high-energy (trapped) atom.

In ongoing BEC experiments a characteristic temperature of a Bose-condensed sample is in the range from $`100`$ nK to $`1`$ $`\mu `$K and, hence, the above estimated magnification of the loss rate of the condensate atoms (factor 3 for $`E_B75\mu `$K) practically corresponds to switching off the evaporative cooling. With evaporative cooling on, the ratio $`E_B/\mu `$ for temperatures smaller than $`\mu `$ is in practice ranging from 2 to 5. Then, at typical densities $`n_010^{14}`$ cm<sup>-3</sup> Eq.(13) only gives a 10% increase of the total loss rate of Bose-condensed atoms compared to $`L_0`$. To some extent this explains the recent experiments , where a strong increase of the 3-body losses in the condensate has been observed after switching off the evaporative cooling.

For $`T\mu `$ one can also think of the situation, where the cascade production of excitations with energies of order $`\mu `$ does not significantly destroy the equilibrium distribution of quasiparticles in the sample. This should be the case if $`E_B\mu N_\mu `$. Then the damping of these excitations comes into play, continuously decreasing their energy and partially refilling the condensate. This damping originates from (inelastic) scattering of a thermal excitation on a given excitation, which transfers them to the condensate particle and the thermal excitation with higher energy . A characteristic damping rate is of order $`\epsilon (n_0a^3)^{1/2}`$, and even for the lowest excitations ($`ϵ\mathrm{}\omega `$) it can be larger than the rate of recombination.

Consequently, one can conclude that the energy of excitations produced in the recombination process is thermalized in the gas. The Bose-condensed sample will be in quasiequilibrium, with continuously increasing temperature. This provides extra losses of Bose-condensed atoms. Due to refilling the condensate in the course of damping of the excitations, these losses will be smaller than the extra losses described by Eq.(12) in the case of a non-equilibrium ”boiling” condensate.

The rate of energy transfer from the excitations, produced in the recombination process, to the thermal cloud determines the increase of the internal energy $`U`$ of the gas. One can write it as $`\dot{U}=Wn_0^3d^3r`$, where the quantity $`W`$ is obtained in the same way as Eq.(11):

$$W=\alpha \frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}\left|\frac{h_𝐤}{ϵ_k+E_k/3}\right|^2ϵ_k.$$
(14)   
Relying on Eq.(14) and the known expressions for $`U`$ and the number of Bose-condensed atoms $`N_0`$ as functions of $`T`$ and the total number of particles (see ), we have calculated the extra losses of condensate atoms $`|N_0/T|\dot{T}`$, related to the increase of temperature. At initial density $`n_010^{14}`$ cm<sup>-3</sup> they do not exceed $`10\%`$.

In conclusion, we have found that inelastic collisional processes in Bose-Einstein condensates can be accompanied by the creation of elementary excitations. It is worth mentioning that this phenomenon is not related to BEC as itself. It originates from the presence of the mean-field interparticle interaction and will also occur in a non-condensed ultra-cold gas, as soon as the parameter $`na^3`$ is not extremely small. We have revealed the influence of the production of high-energy excitations in the course of 3-body recombination on the loss rate of atoms from a trapped condensate. This effect is especially pronounced for a high trap barrier $`E_B`$, and it would be valuable to perform a systematic experimental investigation of the loss rate of condensed atoms as a function of $`E_B`$.

We acknowledge fruitful discussions with J. Dalibard and M.A. Baranov. This work was financially supported by the Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), by the CNRS, by INTAS, and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Studies.

L.K.B. is an unité de recherche de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure et de l’Université Pierre et Marie Curie, associée au CNRS.