Author

Nick Abboud

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Colladay, Donald

Area of Concentration

Physics

Abstract

The effect of Lorentz-violating terms on the elementary excitations of uniform and magnetically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates is investigated analytically in the mean-field, large-condensate limit. A small correction breaking rotational symmetry is found for the dispersion relation of these excitations, which could lead to a diurnally modulated experimental signal. The sensitivity to this effect is evaluated for prior experiments, resulting in bounds on "c" coefficients of the Standard Model Extension that are not competitive. As an auxiliary result, the full Lorentz-violating extension of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation is derived for spin-1 condensates, potentially serving as a starting point for future studies.

Share

COinS