Sonic black holes in dilute Bose-Einstein condensates - art. no. 023611

The sonic analog of a gravitational black hole in dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates is investigated. It is shown that there exist both dynamically stable and unstable configurations which, in the hydrodynamic limit, exhibi t behaviors completely analogous to that of gravitational black holes. The dynamical instabilities involve the creation of quasiparticle pairs in posi tive and negative energy states. We illustrate these features in two qualit atively different one-dimensional models, namely, a long, thin condensate w ith an outcoupler laser beam providing an "atom sink" and a tight ring-shap ed condensate. We also simulate the creation of a stable sonic black hole b y solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation numerically for a condensate subjec t to a trapping potential which is adiabatically deformed. A sonic black ho le could, in this way, be created experimentally with state-of-the-art or p lanned technology.