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ULTRACOLD ATOMS

Boltzmann avenged
An experiment with cold atoms confined in an isotropic three-dimensional harmonic potential confirms the
long-predicted non-damping oscillations of the breathing mode.

David Guéry-Odelin and Emmanuel Trizac

A
gas in an isolated container 2002 (ref. 3). Studies of strongly correlated a classical gas, thus realizing the exotic
thermalizes because of collisions quantum systems led to a number of other solution predicted by Boltzmann. This
that redistribute momentum and interesting results, such as the quantum was made possible by the development
energy among the constituents. Writing Newton’s cradle experiment 4 of bosonic of an elaborate version of the magnetic
in Nature Physics, Daniel Lobser and atoms confined in a one-dimensional time-averaged orbiting potential trap,
colleagues1 have now shown that an atomic harmonic trap — a situation where strong which produces a good approximation of
gas, when confined in a harmonic and interactions lead to integrable dynamics5. an isotropic 3D harmonic confinement.
isotropic trap, may never reach thermal Yet, until now, no experiment tackled This turned out to be a delicate task that
equilibrium and instead evolve towards an the case of a 3D harmonically trapped required a deft strategy to minimize
undamped breathing mode. This bewildering gas in the regime where quantum effects anharmonicities while circumventing
effect was predicted by Ludwig Boltzmann are negligible. the natural anisotropy of the trap and
(pictured) more than a hundred years ago, the role of gravity. Lobser et al. used
© UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, DRAWN BY DR. K. PRZIBRAM, COURTESY AIP EMILIO SEGRE VISUAL ARCHIVES

but has never been observed. five rotating magnetic fields, whereas

The Boltzmann equation describes the the original time-averaged orbiting
dynamics of rarefied gases. Derived in potential technique involves only one.
the 1870s (ref. 2), it is still used to model A small residual damping was observed,
phenomena in many areas from transport which the researchers attribute to
in solids and plasmas to granular gases or remaining anharmonicities.
population dynamics. From his equation, The perpetual non-equilibrium
Boltzmann established the celebrated state hinted by these results is a truly
H‑theorem, which shows how gases counter-intuitive phenomenon. An
thermalize. This remarkable achievement open theoretical question concerns the
provided the first explanation for macroscopic eventual long-time thermalization of the
irreversibility through a microscopic system. For example, small correlations
approach. With this result in mind, most among the constituents — discarded at
physicists would presume that a confined and the level of the Boltzmann equation, but
self-interacting non-equilibrium gas would present in any finite system — although
eventually thermalize. But it seems that this is innocuous on the medium-term, could
not necessarily always the case. still asymptotically drive the gas towards
Less known than the H‑theorem itself is equilibrium. Yet, besides providing a
the fact that Boltzmann also identified exotic textbook example of the experimental
solutions that could exist under the proviso of observation of non-equilibrium solutions
harmonic and isotropic confinement. These to the Boltzmann equation, the work by
solutions correspond to breathing modes, in Lobser and colleagues reinforces the idea
which a perpetual conversion between kinetic that cold atoms form an ultraprecise testbed
and potential energies operates through a of kinetic theory. ❐
swing-like mechanism. Remarkably, these
modes are not restricted to small-amplitude David Guéry-Odelin is at LCAR, IRSAMC,
oscillations. Furthermore, their existence University Paul Sabatier, CNRS, 31062 Toulouse,
does not contradict the H‑theorem, which France. Emmanuel Trizac is at LPTMS, CNRS,
implies that the velocity distribution of the Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay,
gas has a Gaussian form at long times — 91405 Orsay, France.
hence the modes are not damped. The e‑mail: dgo@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr; trizac@lptms.u-psud.fr
breathers indeed exhibit Gaussian statistics.
What makes them particularly interesting is References
their non-trivial position–velocity coupling, 1. Lobser, D. S. et al. Nature Phys. 11, 1009–1012 (2015).
2. Boltzmann, L. Lectures on Gas Theory (Dover, 1995).
which is time-dependent and absent from the In their experiment, Lobser et al. used 3. Chevy, F. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 250402 (2002).
thermalized distribution. a very cold gas, but still far from the 4. Kinoshita, T., Wenger, T. & Weiss, D. S. Nature 440, 900–903 (2006).
Non-damping of the transverse breathing temperature threshold where quantum 5. Rigol, M., Dunjko, V. & Olshanii, M. Nature 452, 854–858 (2008).

mode of a Bose–Einstein condensate in a effects emerge. They report the first

highly elongated trap was first observed in evidence for non-damping oscillations in Published online: 5 October 2015

988 NATURE PHYSICS | VOL 11 | DECEMBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturephysics

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