Growth and Collapse of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interactions
Growth and Collapse of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interactions
We consider the dynamics of a quantum degenerate trapped gas of Li-7 atoms. Because the atoms have a negative s-wave scattering length, a Bose condensate of Li-7 becomes mechanically unstable when the number of condensate atoms approaches a maximum value. We calculate the dynamics of the collapse that occurs when …