Universal and anomalous behavior in the thermalization of strongly interacting harmonically trapped gas mixtures

Abstract

We report on the dynamics of thermalization by extending a generalization of the Caldeira-Leggett model, developed in the context of cold atomic gases confined in a harmonic trap, to higher dimensions. Universal characteristics en route to thermalization which appear to be independent of dimensionality are highlighted, which additionally suggest a scaling analogous to turbulent mixing in fluid dynamics. We then focus on features dependent on dimensionality, with particular regard to the role of angular momentum of the two atomic clouds, having in mind the goal of efficient thermalization between the two species. Finally, by considering asymmetry in species numbers, we find that nonlinear inter-species interactions provide a mode locking mechanism between the majority and minority species, relevant to recent experiments involving Fermi-Bose mixtures in the normal phase.