Collapse times for attractive Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

We argue that the main mechanism for condensate collapse in an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate is the loss of coherence between atoms a finite distance apart, rather than the growth of the occupation number in noncondensate modes. Since the former mechanism is faster than the latter by a factor of approximately 3/2, this helps to dispel the apparent failure of field theoretical models in predicting the collapse time of the condensate.

15 pages; added detailed comparison to other approaches