Multimode analysis of non-classical correlations in double-well Bose–Einstein condensates

The observation of non-classical correlations arising in two weakly coupled Bose–Einstein condensates was recently reported by Estève et al (2008 Nature 455 1216). In order to observe relative number fluctuations between the two condensates below the standard quantum limit, they utilized the process of ‘adiabatic passage’ to drive the system out of thermal equilibrium. They found that this reduced the relative number fluctuations below that expected in thermal equilibrium at the minimum experimentally realizable temperature. We present a theoretical analysis that takes into account the spatial degrees of freedom of the system, allowing us to calculate the expected correlations at finite temperature in the system, and to verify the hypothesis of reduced number fluctuations via adiabatic passage by comparing the dynamics to the idealized model.