Atomic Physics Seminars

Following the great success of mean field theory in describing trapped Bose-Einstein condensates, there has recently been much interest in also including thermal and spontaneous processes which are not present in the mean field description. One way to do this involves using phase space methods which were developed in quantum optics to similarly extend the mean field theory of lasers. This talk will present an overview of theory and applications of the truncated Wigner method to ultra-cold Bose gas physics. We will cover the formal basis for the method, its connections to classical field methods and exact phase space methods, and discuss recent applications to a number of systems of experimental interest.