Impurity Expulsion From a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Abstract

When a sizable, hard-sphere-like impurity is placed in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate, it will create a hole in the condensate wave function. Since it costs more energy to drill a hole at the wave function's maximum (near the trap center) than at its minimum (near the trap edge), the impurity will be expelled from the condensate. This suggests that C-60 molecules freely falling through a condensate of atomic hydrogen may be deflected by a radial acceleration comparable to g. The scattered fullerenes would then form a characteristic banded density pattern outside of the trap. The detection of these deflected molecules can be used to identify the onset of Bose-Einstein condensation.