Collapse and three-body loss in a 85Rb Bose-Einstein condensate

Collapsing Bose-Einstein condensates are rich and complex quantum systems for which quantitative explanation by simple models has proved elusive. We present experimental data on the collapse of high-density Rb-85 condensates with attractive interactions and find quantitative agreement with the predictions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The collapse data and measurements of the decay of atoms from our condensates allow us to put new limits on the value of the Rb-85 three-body loss coefficient K-3 at small positive and negative scattering lengths.