Fate of the vacuum point and of gray solitons in dispersive quantum shock waves in a one-dimensional Bose gas

We continue the study of dispersive quantum shock waves in a one-dimensional Bose gas beyond the meanfield approximation. In a recent work by Simmons et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 180401 (2020)], the oscillatory shock wave train developing in this system from an initial localized density bump on a uniform background was interpreted as a result of quantum mechanical self-interference, wherein the interference contrast would diminish with the loss of matter-wave phase coherence. Such loss of coherence, relative to the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii description, occurs due to either quantum or thermal fluctuations, as well as in the strongly interacting regime. In this work we extend the analysis of dispersive quantum shock waves in this context to other dynamical scenarios. More specifically, the scenarios studied include evolution of a sufficiently high-density bump, known to lead to the so-called vacuum point in the mean-field description, and evolution of an initial density dip, known to shed a train of gray solitons in the same mean-field approximation. We study the fate of these nonlinear wave structures in the presence of quantum and thermal fluctuations, as well as at intermediate and strong interactions, and show that both the vacuum point and gray solitons cease to manifest themselves beyond the mean-field approach. On the other hand, we find that a vacuum point can occur in an ideal (noninteracting) Bose gas evolving from a ground state of a localized dimple potential. Due to the ubiquity of dispersive shock waves in nature, our results should provide useful insights and perspectives for a variety of other physical systems known to display nonlinear wave phenomena.

Automated summary

This study extends the research on dispersive quantum shock waves in a one-dimensional Bose gas and explores other dynamical scenarios. The results show that both the vacuum point and gray solitons cease to manifest themselves beyond the mean-field approach in the presence of quantum and thermal fluctuations, as well as at intermediate and strong interactions. These findings provide useful insights and perspectives for other physical systems known to display nonlinear wave phenomena.