Complex-scaling approach to the decay of Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

The mean-field dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate is studied in presence of a microscopic trapping potential from which the condensate can escape via tunneling through finite barriers. We show that the method of complex scaling can be used to obtain a quantitative description of this decay process. A real-time propagation approach that is applied to the complex-scaled Gross-Pitaevskii equation allows us to calculate the chemical potentials and lifetimes of the metastably trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. The method is applied to a one-dimensional harmonic confinement potential combined with a Gaussian envelope, for which we compute the lowest symmetric and antisymmetric quasibound states of the condensate. A comparison with alternative approaches using absorbing boundary conditions as well as complex absorbing potentials shows good agreement.