Stationary and Dynamical Solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii Equation for a Bose-Einstein Condensate in a PT symmetric Double Well

Abstract

We investigate the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for a Bose-Einstein condensate in a PT symmetric double-well potential by means of the time-dependent variational principle and numerically exact solutions. A one-dimensional and a fully three-dimensional setup are used. Stationary states are determined and the propagation of wave function is investigated using the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Due to the nonlinearity of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation the potential dependson the wave function and its solutions decide whether or not the Hamiltonian itself is PT symmetric. Stationary solutions with real energy eigenvalues fulfilling exact PT symmetry are found as well as PT broken eigenstates with complex energies. The latter describe decaying or growing probability amplitudes and are not true stationary solutions of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. However, they still provide qualitative information about the time evolution of the wave functions.