Long-lived nonthermal states realized by atom losses in one-dimensional quasicondensates

Abstract

We investigate the cooling produced by a loss process nonselective in energy on a one-dimensional (1D) Bose gas with repulsive contact interactions in the quasicondensate regime. By performing nonlinear classical-field calculations for a homogeneous system, we show that the gas reaches a nonthermal state where different modes have acquired different temperatures. After losses have been turned off, this state is robust with respect to the nonlinear dynamics, described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We argue that the integrability of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation is linked to the existence of such long-lived nonthermal states and illustrate this by showing that such states are not supported within a nonintegrable model of two coupled 1D gases of different masses. We go beyond a classical-field analysis, taking into account the quantum noise introduced by the discreteness of losses, and show that the nonthermal state is still produced and its nonthermal character is even enhanced. Finally, we extend the discussion to gases trapped in a harmonic potential and present experimental observations of a long-lived nonthermal state within a trapped 1D quasicondensate following an atom-loss process. Show more