We investigate the prospects of atomic interference using samples of Bose condensed atoms. First we show the ability of two independent Bose condensates to create an interference pattern. This holds even if both condensates are described by Fock states. Thus, the existence of an experimental signature for a broken gauge symmetry, seen in a single run of the experiment, is not necessarily reflected by a broken symmetry on the level of the quantum mechanical state vector. Based on these results, we simulate numerically a recent experiment with two independent Bose condensates [K. B. Davis et al., PRL 75, 3969 (1995)]. The existence of interference fringes is predicted based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Finally we study theoretically the influence of finite temperatures on the visibility of the interference in a double pinhole configuration. 03.75.Fi,05.30.Jp
We study the thermodynamical properties of a mesoscopic Fermi gas in view of
recent possibilities to trap ultracold atoms in a harmonic potential. We focus
on the effects of shell closure for finite small atom numbers. The dependence
of the chemical potential, the specific heat and the density distribution on
particle number and temperature is obtained. Isotropic and anisotropic traps
are compared. Possibilities of experimental observations are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 9 eps-figures included, Revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev. A,
minor changes to figures and captions, corrected typo
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