Properties of spinor Bose condensates

We analyze the ground state structure and low energy dynamics of an f = 1 s pinor. condensate. We show that there are distinct time scales governing th e spin-mixing process in spinor condensates and analyze them using algebrai c, semiclassical, and numerical approaches. We find that the dynamics is se nsitive to the relative phase, particle number distribution among the spin components, and the total particle number in the condensate. We further fin d that complicated structures develop in the densities during the evolution . We also investigate the dynamics under the action of external magnetic fi elds and uncover an intriguing set of phenomena like stochastization in spi n populations, metastability in the spin component distribution, and dynami c localization in spin space.