Long-time expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate: Can Anderson localization be observed?

Abstract

We numerically explore the long-time expansion of a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in a disorder potential employing the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The goal is to search for unique signatures of Anderson localization in the presence of particle-particle interactions. Using typical experimental parameters we show that the time scale for which the non-equilibrium dynamics of the interacting system begins to diverge from the non-interacting system exceeds the observation times up to now accessible in the experiment. We find evidence that the long-time evolution of the wavepacket is characterized by (sub)diffusive spreading and a growing effective localization length suggesting that interactions destroy Anderson localization.