Can three-body recombination purify a quantum gas?

ORAL

Abstract

While three-body recombination in quantum gases is traditionally associated with heating, it was recently observed that it can also cool some specific systems. We show that three-body loss in a partially condensed 3D homogeneous Bose gas could even lead to purification of the sample, meaning the reduction of the entropy per particle and the increase of the condensed fraction. This phenomenon is a consequence of two quantum-statistical effects - the saturation of the thermal component in a partially condensed gas and the quantum statistics of three-body collisions. We discuss the theoretical origin of this effect and the feasibility of its experimental realisation.

–

Authors

  • Lena Dogra

    University of Cambridge

  • Jake Glidden

    University of Cambridge

  • Christoph Eigen

    University of Cambridge

  • Timon Hilker

    University of Cambridge

  • Eric A. Cornell

    JILA, NIST, and University of Colorado, Boulder, JILA, NIST and University of Colorado, Boulder, JILA, NIST and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Robert Smith

    University of Oxford

  • Zoran Hadzibabic

    University of Cambridge