Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 343 / 1

The $-\mu \psi$ term means that the generator is the grand potential, rather than just the physical energy. With boundary variations vanishing, the Hamiltonian functional isIts functional derivative isso the Gross–Pitaevskii equation is $i\hslash {\psi }_t=\delta H/\delta {\psi }^{\ast }$. Treating $\psi$ and ${\psi }^{\ast }$ as independent variables in this variation gives the factor $g$, not $2g$.

For repulsive interactions $g>0$ and $\mu >0$, complete the square in the local energy:The gradient contribution is nonnegative, so the homogeneous ground state has arbitrary constant complex argument andThe infinite-volume constant may be subtracted to define a relative grand potential; it does not affect the functional derivative. At fixed particle number one instead minimizes the physical energy $H+\mu N$, with $\mu$ as its Lagrange multiplier. For $g>0$, $\mu \le 0$ the grand-potential minimum over $n\ge 0$ is the vacuum $n=0$. For $g<0$ the displayed unconstrained functional is unbounded below; the positive-density stable uniform state assumed in the following parts requires repulsion.

Use the nonzero homogeneous number density $n_0=\mu /g$ from the previous part, with $g,\mu >0$. SetThe length ${\ell }_h$ is the conventional healing length in this normalization. In the dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation, ${\hslash }^2/(2m{\ell }_h^2)=\mu$ and $g{n}_0=\mu$. Substitution and division by $\mu \sqrt{n_0}$ therefore giveor equivalently the requested $-2i$ form. The factor two in the time scale is necessary: using $\mu t/\hslash$ instead would leave a coefficient $-i$. The normalized number density is $|\tilde{\psi }{|}^2=n/n_0$.

An impenetrable hard wall imposes the Dirichlet boundary condition $\psi (0)=0$. Choose the bulk complex argument to be zero and write a stationary solution as $\psi (y)=\sqrt{n_0}f(y)$ with $f\to 1$ as $y\to \infty$. The dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation becomesMultiplication by $f^{\prime }$ and use of the bulk limit yield the first integralfor the increasing wall profile. Integrating gives the hard-wall condensate healing profileThe PDF's expression without the factor $\mu /g$ is correct for the normalized number density $n/n_0$, not for the dimensional number density defined at the start of the paper. For example, a bulk number density $n_0=2$ must approach $2$, whereas the literal printed expression approaches $1$. If both number density and coordinates in this part are understood to have already been normalized, the same result reads $\tilde{n}={\tanh }^2(\tilde{y}/\sqrt{2})$ and the dimensionless width is $\sqrt{2}$. These are two descriptions of the same profile, not different physical healing lengths.

Suppress tildes in the normalized equation and let $X=x-vt$. A Gross–Pitaevskii solitary wave stationary in these translating coordinates obeysThe boundary fixes the bulk complex argument and describes a localized disturbance with zero net vortex winding number; a vortex pair is possible. No extra plane-wave factor is needed when only the coordinates are changed. A full Galilean transformation of the field would additionally change the bulk flow and its complex argument convention.

Subtract the uniform background from the grand potential. A convenient dimensionless energy and the renormalized momentum of a condensate areThe subtraction in $\mathbf{p}$ removes the troublesome background complex argument gradient. In particular, for the usual subsonic localized far field $\psi -1=O(r^{-1})$, $\nabla \psi =O(r^{-2})$, and $1-|\psi {|}^2=O(r^{-2})$, the energy density is $O(r^{-4})$ and the momentum integrand is $O(r^{-3})$, both integrable in two dimensions. Merely writing $\psi \to 1$ without sufficient decay is not by itself a convergence proof. The common solitary-wave branch is subsonic: linearizing this normalization gives ${\omega }^2=k^2/2+k^4/4$ and speed of sound $1/\sqrt{2}$.

Integration by parts, with decaying variations and their boundary terms vanishing, givesThus the translating equation is precisely $\delta (E-v{p}_x)=0$. Along a differentiable family ${\psi }_{\lambda }$ with fixed bulk normalization, evaluate this stationarity on ${\partial }_{\lambda }\psi$ to obtainwhere $d{p}_x/d\lambda \ne 0$. This energy–momentum slope of a solitary wave does not require differentiating the Lagrange multiplier $v$ inside the field variation. At a turning point the parametrized identity remains true, while $E$ need not be a single-valued function of $p_x$ locally. The chosen factors make $i{\psi }_t=\delta E/\delta {\psi }^{\ast }$, consistent with the normalized equation; changing the normalization of $E$ alone would change the claimed slope.