Dark solitons in a trapped gas of long-range interacting bosons

Abstract

We consider the interplay of repulsive short-range and same-sign long-range interactions in the dynamics of dark solitons, as prototypical coherent nonlinear excitations in a trapped 1D Bose gas. First, the form of the ground state is examined, and then both the existence of the solitary waves and their stability properties are explored, and corroborated by direct numerical simulations. We find that single- and multiple-dark-soliton states can exist and are generically robust in the presence of long-range interactions. We analyze the modes of vibration of such excitations and find that their respective frequencies are significantly upshifted as the strength of the long-range interactions is increased. Indeed, we find that a prefactor of the long-range interactions considered comparable to the trap strength may upshift the dark soliton oscillation frequency by {\it an order of magnitude}, in comparison to the well established one of $\Omega/\sqrt{2}$ in a trap of frequency $\Omega$.