Fall 2024

Joint talk with Department Colloquium 

• Date: Thursday, November 14

• Time: 3:30-4:30 PM 

• Location:  Math/Physics Building  Room 3314

• Speaker: Dr. Mark Edwards (Georgia Southern University)

• Title: Perturbative and Variational Methods in Atom Interferometry

• Abstract: We describe two approximations to evaluate the phase shift of an atom interferometer in a weakly anharmonic trap: perturbation theory (PT) and the Lagrangian variational method (LVM). PT provides a simple way to evaluate quantum corrections to the standard semi-classical approximation. The calculation benefits from the use of generalized coherent states for a basis. We find that the form of  the semi-classical approximation remains valid to first order in the anharmonic perturbation, but that phase differences arise because the trajectory of a quantum wave packet will generally deviate from that of a classical particle. The LVM provides non-perturbative approximations to the linear and non-linear Schroedinger equation and the accuracy of the approximation depends significantly on the trial wave function chosen.

• Short Bio: Dr. Mark Edwards is a Professor of Physics at Georgia Southern University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1984. His research area is the theoretical study of ultra-cold quantum atomic gases.