Beyond Spontaneously Broken Symmetry in Bose-Einstein Condensates
Article comments
This is the pre-published version which is collected from arXiv. The published version is at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v104/i15/e150401
Abstract
Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) for Bose-Einstein condensates cannot treat phase off-diagonal effects, and thus cannot explain Bell inequality violations. We describe another situation that is beyond a SSB treatment: an experiment where particles from two (possibly macroscopic) condensate sources are used for conjugate measurements of the relative phase and populations. Off-diagonal phase effects are characterized by a “quantum angle” and observed via “population oscillations,” signaling quantum interference of macroscopically distinct states.
Suggested Citation
WJ Mullin and F Laloe. "Beyond Spontaneously Broken Symmetry in Bose-Einstein Condensates" Physical Review Letters 104.15 (2010).
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/william_mullin/58