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# Damping of condensate collective modes due to equilibration with the non-condensate

## I Introduction

The collective oscillations of a condensate at zero temperature $`T=0`$ are well described by the solutions of the linearized Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) time-dependent equation of motion for the condensate wavefunction $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)`$. At finite temperatures, the condensate dynamics is modified by interactions with the non-condensate atoms in the thermal cloud, which has the effect of renormalizing and damping the condensate oscillations. Recently the coupled dynamics of the condensate and the thermal cloud has been the subject of several theoretical studies . Such calculations lead to a generalized GP equation for $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)`$ and some appropriate Boltzmann-like kinetic equation describing the dynamics of the non-condensate atoms. In the present work, we make use of the recent formulation of Zaremba, Nikuni, and Griffin (ZNG)  to discuss a new kind of damping of condensate oscillations that arises from collisions between the condensate and non-condensate components. In contrast to Ref. , which discussed the collision-dominated hydrodynamic regime, here we discuss the collisionless regime. Within the well-known Thomas-Fermi (TF) approximation, we derive a generalized Stringari wave equation describing the condensate normal modes  that is valid at finite $`T`$ and includes damping due to the fact that the condensate is not in equilibrium with the thermal cloud. This new source of damping is in addition to the usual Landau and Beliaev damping considered in the collisionless region at finite $`T`$ .

Our theory can be used to generalize any discussion based on the usual GP equation at $`T=0`$. This simplicity is due to our neglect of any dynamics of the thermal cloud. Available studies of collective modes  at finite $`T`$ suggest that, for any given mode symmetry, one mode mainly involves motion of the condensate (with a small out-of-phase motion of the non-condensate). This mode is a natural extension of the $`T=0`$ oscillation of a pure condensate and should be described by our theory. The other mode, of the same symmetry, mainly involves the motion of the thermal cloud (with a small in-phase motion of the condensate) and can be viewed as the natural extension of the oscillations above the critical temperature $`T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$ . Our present calculations do not apply to such “normal fluid” oscillations, which include the Kohn mode at the trap frequency.

## II Derivation of Model

Our starting point is the finite $`T`$ generalized GP equation derived by ZNG (see also Refs.  and )

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{t}=\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}^2+U_{\mathrm{ext}}+gn_c+2g\stackrel{~}{n}i\mathrm{}R\right]\mathrm{\Phi },$$
(1)
where the interaction parameter $`g=4\pi \mathrm{}^2a/m`$, $`a`$ is the s-wave scattering length, $`n_c(𝐫,t)=|\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)|^2`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫,t)`$ is the non-condensate local density. The damping term in (1) is given by $`R(𝐫,t)\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}(𝐫,t)/2n_c(𝐫,t)`$, with

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}(𝐫,t)=\frac{d𝐩}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^3}C_{12}[f(𝐩,𝐫,t),\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)].$$
(2)
This involves the collision integral $`C_{12}[f,\mathrm{\Phi }]`$ describing collisions of condensate atoms with the thermal atoms, which also enters the approximate semi-classical kinetic equation for the single-particle distribution function (valid for $`k_\mathrm{B}Tgn_{c0}`$ and $`k_\mathrm{B}T\mathrm{}\omega _0`$)

$$\frac{f}{t}+\frac{𝐩}{m}\mathbf{}f\mathbf{}U\mathbf{}_𝐩f=C_{12}[f,\mathrm{\Phi }]+C_{22}[f,\mathrm{\Phi }].$$
(3)
Here the collision integral $`C_{22}[f]`$ describes binary collisions between non-condensate atoms. It does not change the number of condensate atoms and hence does *not* appear explicitly in (1). These coupled equations (1)-(3), along with equations (23a) and (23b) of Ref.  defining the collision integrals $`C_{12}`$ and $`C_{22}`$, were derived in the semi-classical approximation. However, they are expected to contain all the essential physics in trapped Bose-condensed gases at finite $`T`$, in both the collisionless and hydrodynamic domains. They assume that the atoms in the thermal cloud are well-described by the single-particle Hartree-Fock spectrum $`\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_p(𝐫,t)=p^2/2m+U(𝐫,t)`$, where $`U(𝐫,t)=U_{\mathrm{ext}}(𝐫)+2g[n_c(𝐫,t)+\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫,t)]`$. We expect this semi-classical description to break down only for very low temperatures where the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum is more appropriate . Our entire discussion is within what is called the Popov approximation in that we have ignored all effects associated with the anomalous pair correlations $`\stackrel{~}{m}(𝐫,t)=\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫,t)\stackrel{~}{\psi }(𝐫,t)`$.

The coupled equations (1)-(3) have been used to derive the generalized two-fluid hydrodynamic equations in the collision-dominated region described by a local-equilibrium Bose distribution . They also have been recently used to give a detailed analysis of condensate growth by quenching the thermal cloud distribution . In these papers, (1)-(3) are solved with both the condensate and non-condensate being treated dynamically and allowed to be out of equilibrium. The key limitation of the present paper is that we only consider the dynamics of the condensate, with the thermal cloud being in static equilibrium. This assumption allows a simple theoretical development and should be adequate for out-of-phase modes. The key role of the condensate and non-condensate being out of diffusive equilibrium was first stressed in a series of papers by Gardiner and coworkers . These were based on a kinetic master equation formalism quite different from what we use, and no application was made to the damping of condensate collective modes.

It is important to understand what is meant by the *collisionless regime* and to clarify how this terminology relates to the present work. Above $`T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$ (where $`C_{12}=0`$), equation (3) reduces to the Boltzmann equation describing a normal gas . In this case, the collisionless region is well defined and corresponds to having $`\omega _i\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}1`$, where $`\omega _i`$ is the collective mode frequency of the gas, on the order of the trap frequency, and $`\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}`$ can be approximated by the mean time between collisions described by the classical Boltzmann collision integral $`C_{22}`$. In static equilibrium, this collision rate for a uniform gas is given by

$$\frac{1}{\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}}=\sqrt{2}n\sigma \overline{v},$$
(4)
where $`n`$ is the density of atoms, $`\sigma =8\pi a^2`$ is the quantum collision cross section, and $`\overline{v}`$ is the average speed of an atom in the gas. Both above and below $`T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$, the analogous collision time corresponding to collision processes described by $`C_{22}`$ in (3) will give an estimate of the lifetime of a *single-particle* excitation in the thermal cloud. This is distinct from the physics given by $`C_{12}`$, which describes the collisions of condensate atoms with atoms from the thermal cloud. In particular, one finds that if the thermal cloud is described by the equilibrium Bose distribution $`(f=f^0)`$, then $`C_{22}[f^0,\mathrm{\Phi }]=0`$ but $`C_{12}[f^0,\mathrm{\Phi }]0`$. Thus $`C_{12}`$ will give rise to damping of condensate oscillations even when the thermal cloud is treated statically. Of course, in the collisionless region, there is another source of damping arising from the dynamical mean-field coupling between the condensate and thermal cloud that is also included in (1) and (3); this is Landau damping , which will be discussed below.

### A Static Popov approximation

In the present work, we use these equations to calculate the damped normal modes of the condensate given by the solutions of (1) assuming that the non-condensate atoms always remain in static thermal equilibrium. For our model, this means we take

$$f(𝐩,𝐫,t)f^0(𝐩,𝐫)=\frac{1}{e^{\beta [p^2/2m+U_0(𝐫)\stackrel{~}{\mu }_0]}1},$$
(5)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_0`$ is the equilibrium chemical potential of the non-condensate and $`U_0(𝐫)=U_{\mathrm{ext}}(𝐫)+2g[n_{c0}(𝐫)+\stackrel{~}{n}_0(𝐫)]`$. The detailed analysis given by ZNG shows that the Bose-Einstein distribution in (5) is a stationary solution to (3) when the condensate and non-condensate are in diffusive equilibrium, which requires $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_0=\mu _{c0}`$, where $`\mu _{c0}`$ is the equilibrium chemical potential of the condensate as described by (1).

Using our finite $`T`$ “static Popov” approximation, equation (1) can be simplified to

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }}{t}=\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}^2+U_{\mathrm{ext}}+gn_c+2g\stackrel{~}{n}_0i\mathrm{}R_0\right]\mathrm{\Phi },$$
(6)
which describes the condensate motion within the static thermal cloud. Here $`\stackrel{~}{n}_0`$ is the equilibrium density of the non-condensate and the damping term $`R_0`$ is calculated using

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^0(𝐫,t)\frac{d𝐩}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^3}C_{12}[f^0(𝐩,𝐫),\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)].$$
(7)
Notice that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^0(𝐫,t)`$ depends on time now only through $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)`$. Using the explicit general expression for $`C_{12}`$ given in Eq. (23b) of ZGN, one finds (see also Ref. )

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^0(𝐫,t)=\frac{n_c(𝐫,t)}{\tau _{12}(𝐫,t)}\left[e^{\beta (\stackrel{~}{\mu }_0\epsilon _c(𝐫,t))}1\right],$$
(8)
where we have defined the $`C_{12}`$ collision time

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\tau _{12}(𝐫,t)}}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2g^2}{(2\pi )^5\mathrm{}^7}}{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐩_1𝑑𝐩_2𝑑𝐩_3\delta (𝐩_c+𝐩_1𝐩_2𝐩_3)}`$ (9)
$`\times `$ $`\delta (\epsilon _c+\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{p_1}\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{p_2}\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_{p_3})(1+f_1^0)f_2^0f_3^0.`$ (10)
Here the condensate atom local energy is $`\epsilon _c(𝐫,t)=\mu _c(𝐫,t)+\frac{1}{2}mv_c^2(𝐫,t)`$ with the non-equilibrium condensate chemical potential

$$\mu _c(𝐫,t)=\frac{\mathrm{}^2\mathbf{}^2\sqrt{n_c}}{2m\sqrt{n_c}}+U_{\mathrm{ext}}+gn_c+2g\stackrel{~}{n}_0.$$
(11)
The condensate atom momentum is $`𝐩_c=m𝐯_c`$, and $`f_i^0=f^0(𝐫,𝐩_i)`$. We have introduced the usual condensate velocity defined in terms of the phase $`\theta `$ of the condensate $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)=\sqrt{n_c(𝐫,t)}e^{i\theta (𝐫,t)}`$ as $`𝐯_c=\mathrm{}\mathbf{}\theta (𝐫,t)/m`$. A closed set of equations for $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)`$ is given by (6) and its complex conjugate combined with (8) \- (11).

We note that in terms of $`n_c`$ and $`𝐯_c`$, (6) is completely equivalent to the coupled equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{n_c}{t}}+\mathbf{}(n_c𝐯_c)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^0[f^0,\mathrm{\Phi }]`$ (12)
$`m\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}+𝐯_c\mathbf{}\right)𝐯_c`$ $`=`$ $`\mathbf{}\mu _c.`$ (13)
It is easy to see from (8) that when the condensate is in equilibrium with the thermal cloud according to $`\mu _c\mu _{c0}=\stackrel{~}{\mu }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^0(𝐫,t)`$ then vanishes. It is clear that the description of the system given by equations (5) and (6), or equivalently (13), is valid only if the condensate is slightly perturbed from equilibrium and the condensate motion is essentially uncoupled from that of the thermal cloud, which we can then treat statically. In order to describe the condensate oscillations about equilibrium, we use the quantum hydrodynamic variables $`n_c(𝐫,t)=n_{c0}(𝐫)+\delta n_c(𝐫,t)`$ and $`𝐯_c(𝐫,t)=\delta 𝐯_c(𝐫,t)`$, where $`n_{c0}(𝐫)`$ is the equilibrium density of the condensate with the associated equilibrium chemical potential $`\mu _{c0}`$. Alternatively, one may work with the fluctuations of $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫,t)`$ and derive coupled Bogoliubov equations  generalized to include the effect of the $`R_0`$ damping term. This generalization will be discussed elsewhere .

### B Finite-$`T`$ Stringari wave equation

From (13), we can obtain linearized equations of motion for the condensate fluctuations $`\delta n_c`$ and $`\delta 𝐯_c`$. We use the fact that, to lowest order in the fluctuations from static equilibrium, (8) reduces to

$$\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^0=\frac{\beta n_{c0}(𝐫)}{\tau _{12}^0(𝐫)}\delta \mu _c(𝐫,t),$$
(14)
where the “equilibrium” $`C_{12}`$ collision rate is defined by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\tau _{12}^0(𝐫)}}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2g^2}{(2\pi )^5\mathrm{}^7}}{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐩_1𝑑𝐩_2𝑑𝐩_3\delta (𝐩_1𝐩_2𝐩_3)}`$ (15)
$`\times `$ $`\delta \left({\displaystyle \frac{p_1^2p_2^2p_3^2}{2m}}gn_{c0}\right)(1+f_1^0)f_2^0f_3^0.`$ (16)
In the present paper, we restrict ourselves to the Thomas-Fermi limit, valid for large $`N_c`$,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta n_c}{t}}+\mathbf{}(n_{c0}\delta 𝐯_c)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\tau ^{}}}\delta n_c`$ (17)
$`m{\displaystyle \frac{\delta 𝐯_c}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`g\mathbf{}\delta n_c.`$ (18)
The collision time $`\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ describes collisions between the condensate and non-condensate atoms when the condensate is perturbed away from equilibrium,

$$\frac{1}{\tau ^{}(𝐫)}=\frac{gn_{c0}(𝐫)}{k_\mathrm{B}T}\frac{1}{\tau _{12}^0(𝐫)}.$$
(19)
In the TF approximation the equilibrium distribution reduces to $`f_i^0=[e^{\beta (p_i^2/2m+gn_{c0})}1]^1`$. The new term on the right-hand side of (17) causes damping of the condensate fluctuations due to the lack of collisional detailed balance between the condensate and the static thermal cloud. We note that this collision time is only a function of $`𝐫`$ through its dependence on the static condensate density $`n_{c0}(𝐫)`$. Plots of $`1/\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ will be discussed below.

We can easily combine (17) and (18) to obtain what we shall refer to as the finite $`T`$ Stringari wave equation

$$\frac{^2\delta n_c}{t^2}\frac{g}{m}\mathbf{}(n_{c0}\mathbf{}\delta n_c)=\frac{1}{\tau ^{}}\frac{\delta n_c}{t}.$$
(20)
Equation (20) is the main result of this paper. If we neglect the right-hand side, we obtain the undamped finite $`T`$ Stringari normal modes $`\delta n_c(𝐫,t)=\delta n_i(𝐫)e^{i\omega _it}`$ given by the solution of

$$\frac{g}{m}\mathbf{}\left[n_{c0}(𝐫)\mathbf{}\delta n_i(𝐫)\right]=\omega _i^2\delta n_i(𝐫).$$
(21)
As has been noted by several authors in recent papers , $`n_{c0}(𝐫)`$ at finite $`T`$ can be well approximated by the TF condensate profile at $`T=0`$ but with the number of atoms in the condensate $`N_c(T)`$ now being a function of temperature, since the static mean field of the non-condensate plays such a minor role. With this approximation for $`n_{c0}(𝐫)`$, the solutions of the finite $`T`$ Stringari equation (21) will be identical to those at $`T=0`$, since the $`T=0`$ Stringari frequencies do not depend on the magnitude of $`N_c`$. Of course, as shown by calculations solving the coupled Bogoliubov equations , the TF approximation breaks down when $`N_c10^4`$. Thus the condensate collective mode frequencies will always become temperature dependent close to $`T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$, where the TF approximation is no longer valid. We generalize our present discussion to deal with this region in Ref. .

We can use the undamped Stringari modes as a basis set to solve (20) and find the damping of these modes. Writing $`\delta n_c(𝐫)=_ic_i\delta n_i(𝐫)`$, and using the orthogonality condition $`𝑑𝐫\delta n_i(𝐫)\delta n_j(𝐫)=\delta _{ij}`$, one obtains the following algebraic equations for the coefficients $`c_i`$

$$\omega ^2c_i=\omega _i^2c_ii\omega \underset{j}{}\gamma _{ij}c_j,$$
(22)
where

$$\gamma _{ij}=𝑑𝐫\delta n_i(𝐫)\delta n_j(𝐫)/\tau ^{}(𝐫).$$
(23)
Assuming the damping is small (we are in the collisionless region), (22) is easily solved using perturbation theory by setting $`\gamma _{ij}=0`$ for $`ij`$. This gives the damped Stringari frequency (to lowest order) $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i=\omega _ii\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$, with

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_i\frac{\gamma _{ii}}{2}=\frac{1}{2}𝑑𝐫\frac{\delta n_i(𝐫)^2}{\tau ^{}(𝐫)}.$$
(24)
This result for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ is reasonable, namely it involves an average over $`1/\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ weighted with respect to the undamped density fluctuations of the Stringari wave equation (21). We find that coupling to other modes ($`\gamma _{ij}0`$) is extremely small.

## III Results

### A Homogeneous gas

Before treating the trapped gas, it is useful to first apply our theory to a homogeneous gas, which was considered previously in Ref.  in connection with the collision-dominated hydrodynamic region. For a homogeneous gas, $`\tau ^{}`$ is independent of position and then (24) reduces to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i=1/2\tau ^{}`$. Although our model in the present paper applies only to the collisionless region, it is useful to compare the inter-component collision time in both the collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes. In ZNG, it was shown that the inter-component collision time $`\tau _\mu `$ in the hydrodynamic region is given by $`\tau _\mu =\sigma \tau ^{}`$, where the temperature-dependent factor $`\sigma `$ (not to be confused with the collision cross section) depends on various thermodynamic functions. In Fig. 1 we compare $`1/\tau ^{}`$ and $`1/\tau _\mu `$ as functions of $`T`$. We see that $`\sigma `$ dramatically alters the inter-component relaxation rate $`1/\tau _\mu `$ appropriate to the hydrodynamic regime, as compared to $`1/\tau ^{}`$ involved in the collisionless regime. For completeness, in Fig. 1 we also plot the often-used classical collision time given by (4) as well as $`\tau _{12}^0`$ defined in (16).

In a uniform Bose gas at finite temperatures, the Landau damping ($`\omega =cqi\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$) of condensate modes has been evaluated in several recent papers . Working within the full second-order Beliaev approximation, one finds

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=\left(\frac{3\pi }{8}\right)\frac{ak_\mathrm{B}Tq}{\mathrm{}}.$$
(25)
This is clearly quite different from our inter-component damping $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1/2\tau ^{}`$, as plotted in Fig. 1. Landau damping originates from the interaction of a condensate collective mode with the excitations of the thermal cloud but is not associated with $`C_{12}`$ collisions which give rise to $`\tau ^{}`$.

In the context of our generalized GP equation in (1), Landau damping comes from the fluctuations in the thermal cloud induced by the condensate mean field,

$$\delta \stackrel{~}{n}=\stackrel{~}{\chi }_0(2g\delta n_c).$$
(26)
In the finite temperature region of interest, $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_0`$ can be approximated as the density response function of a non-interacting gas of atoms with a spectrum $`\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }_p`$ and chemical potential $`\mu _{c0}`$. For a uniform gas, one sees that using (26) in (1), with $`R=0`$, gives condensate modes satisfying $`\omega ^2=c^2q^2(1+4g\stackrel{~}{\chi }_0)`$ and thus $`\omega =cqi\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$, where

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=2gcq\mathrm{Im}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_0(q,\omega =cq).$$
(27)
Evaluating $`\mathrm{Im}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_0`$ in the limit of small $`q`$ , one finds $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=\frac{4}{3}ak_\mathrm{B}Tq/\mathrm{}`$. Apart from the slightly larger numerical coefficient, this agrees with the exact result given in equation (25) .

### B Trapped gas

We now turn to explicit calculations of the inter-component damping rate using our model for a trapped gas. In order to calculate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ for a given mode, the equilibrium chemical potential $`\mu _{c0}=\stackrel{~}{\mu }_0`$ must be calculated self-consistently for a given total number $`N`$ of atoms at a given temperature $`T`$. In the TF approximation, the procedure is straight forward (see, for example, Ref. ). In the following, we consider a harmonic trap with axial symmetry $`U_{\mathrm{ext}}(𝐫)=\frac{1}{2}m\omega _\rho ^2(\rho ^2+\lambda ^2z^2)`$, where $`\lambda =\omega _z/\omega _\rho `$ is the anisotropy parameter. In the TF approximation, the condensate density takes the explicit form $`n_{c0}=[\mu _{c0}m\omega _\rho ^2(\rho ^2+\lambda ^2z^2)/2]/g`$ within the TF radius, and the condensate chemical potential is $`\mu _{c0}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{}\omega _\rho [15\lambda N_ca/\rho _0]^{2/5}`$, where $`\rho _0=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/m\omega _\rho }`$. The form of the Stringari normal modes $`\delta n_i(𝐫)`$ is given explicitly in the literature . We mainly consider the breathing mode ($`n=1,l=0`$) for which $`\omega _{10}=\sqrt{5}\omega _\rho `$, for $`\lambda =1`$.

We choose experimentally accessible parameters in the following calculations for the collisionless region. However, we do not compare our results to the two available experiments on damping of normal modes at finite $`T`$, since the TF approximation is not valid for most of the JILA data , and the MIT experiment  is approaching the collision-dominated hydrodynamic limit where the dynamics of the condensate and non-condensate become more strongly coupled. For <sup>87</sup>Rb the scattering length is $`a5.7`$ nm . We first consider a spherically symmetric trap $`\lambda =1`$, with trap frequency $`\nu _r=10`$ Hz, and we take $`N=2\times 10^6`$. In the collisionless limit, we require $`\omega _i\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}1`$, taking $`\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}`$ as defined in (4). For a trapped gas, we obtain an upper limit on $`1/\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}`$ by taking the density in the center of the trap $`n(r=0)`$, which gives $`1/\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}=8a^2N\omega _\rho ^3m/(\pi k_\mathrm{B}T)`$. For the parameters we use, $`\omega _{10}\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}19`$ (compared to $`\omega _{02}\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}20`$ for the JILA data , and $`\omega _{02}\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}2`$ for the MIT data ).

In Fig. 2a we plot $`1/\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ vs. position for $`T=0.9T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$ and $`T=0.5T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$. We see that the collision rate increases steadily up to the condensate boundary, but as $`T`$ increases, $`1/\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ becomes relatively constant. The behavior of $`1/\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ just seems to be mimicking the behavior of the non-condensate density $`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)`$, which we plot in the inset of Fig. 2b along with the condensate density. The condensate mean-field pushes the non-condensate density out of the center of the trap, a well known result . We also show the breathing mode density fluctuation in Fig. 2b. The sharp cusp of $`\stackrel{~}{n}(𝐫)`$ and the sudden drop of $`\delta n_i(𝐫)`$ and $`1/\tau ^{}(𝐫)`$ at the condensate boundary are all unphysical artifacts of the TF approximation. Inclusion of the kinetic energy pressure in a more accurate calculation would have the effect of smoothing out this behavior at the boundary. To illustrate the effect of the kinetic energy pressure, we also show in Fig. 2b the breathing mode obtained by solving the $`T=0`$ coupled Bogoliubov equations. We estimate that an improved treatment which includes the kinetic energy pressure will modify our estimate of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}`$ by about $`1020\%`$ .

In Fig. 3a we plot the damping rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}`$ for the breathing mode ($`n=1`$, $`l=0`$) shown in Fig. 2b as a function of temperature up to $`T=0.95T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$, where $`N_c7\times 10^4`$. At higher temperatures, the Thomas-Fermi approximation will start to break down and the mode frequencies become temperature dependent .

Landau damping of condensate modes in trapped gases has also been discussed in some detail in recent papers . These papers give results that are in qualitative agreement with the expression for a uniform gas in (25), with $`q=\omega _\rho /c`$ and evaluating the Bogoliubov sound velocity $`c`$ for the density at the center of the trap . This simple estimate for Landau damping is plotted in Fig. 3 for comparison. We note that it is larger but comparable to the inter-component collisional damping that we consider. Clearly, a fully satisfactory theory of finite $`T`$ damping of normal modes must include *both* Landau damping as well as the damping we consider in this paper due to the condensate being out of diffusive equilibrium with the non-condensate.

Our theory is easily applied to anisotropic traps. In Fig. 3b we show the damping of $`m=0,2`$ quadrupole modes for an axially symmetric trap with $`\lambda =\sqrt{8}`$. Here we choose a slightly tighter trap $`\nu _r=23`$ Hz, and we take $`N=1\times 10^6`$ (in this case, $`N_c3\times 10^4`$ at $`T=0.95T_{\mathrm{BEC}}`$). For these parameters, we find $`\omega _{20}\tau _{\mathrm{cl}}6`$. In Fig. 3b we see that Landau damping is about twice as large as our inter-component collisional damping.

It is instructive to also consider the dependence of the mode damping $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ on the total population $`N`$. In Fig. 4, we show a shaded surface plot of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}`$ for the breathing mode in an isotropic trap as a function of $`T`$ and $`N`$. The white line at $`N=2\times 10^6`$ corresponds to the solid line plotted in Fig. 3a. As one might expect, the inter-component damping rate increases with increasing total population (since the density is increasing). It is also important to realize that in current experiments, the data taken is for a broad range of $`N`$ due to evaporative cooling losses . The idealized fixed-$`N`$ line can never be achieved in practice and one is instead dealing with a curve like the longer line on the surface in Fig. 4.

## IV Conclusion

In summary, we have calculated a new damping mechanism of condensate collective modes due to collisions with the thermal cloud, based on the finite-$`T`$ equations derived in Ref. . The essential mechanism involves the lack of diffusive equilibrium between the condensate and the thermal cloud , which also plays a key role in the theory of condensate growth . Here we have carried-out the first explicit calculation of this damping mechanism for a trapped gas in the collisionless regime (this inter-component damping has recently also been evaluated in the collision-dominated hydrodynamic regime ). In recent discussions of the damping of condensate collective modes in the collisionless region, the mechanism we consider is omitted. One instead focuses on the dynamical mean-field coupling between the condensate and thermal cloud, which gives rise to Landau and Beliaev damping . While we have not considered it in detail, we have indicated how we could include Landau damping by considering the non-condensate fluctuations in (1) induced by the condensate mean field . Comparing Landau damping to the additional mechanism we have calculated, we find that the two are comparable in size. Further experimental studies of the collective modes at finite temperatures are needed to clarify the relative importance of these different sources of damping.

In this paper, we have argued that a good first estimate of the inter-component damping of condensate collective modes can be obtained by coupling it to a static thermal cloud. A more systematic theory is clearly desirable in which the collisionless dynamics of the thermal cloud is allowed for. However, as noted in the introduction, we do not believe that this will lead to significant corrections to the inter-component damping of out-of-phase condensate modes in which the motion of the thermal cloud is not significant. In future work, we hope to discuss the damping due to $`C_{12}`$ collisions of collective modes that mainly involve the motion of the thermal cloud, with the condensate being treated statically.

This work grew out of discussions with E. Zaremba about the role of $`C_{12}`$ collisions in the collisionless region. We also thank T. Nikuni for useful comments. This research was supported by a grant from NSERC.