Researchers at NIST and the University of Maryland have predicted a new type of “immortal” soliton wave in ultracold gases. Unlike traditional solitons that lose their shape at sonic speeds, this new soliton maintains its wave height even at the speed of sound. The discovery could provide insights into strongly interacting quantum systems like high-temperature superconductors and magnets, as well as help better understand phase transitions in the early universe. The solitons are predicted to occur in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) made of “hard-core bosons” in an optical lattice arrangement.
Keywords: Bose-Einstein Condensates, Solitons, Quantum Systems
