Transition state theory for wave packet dynamics: II. Thermal decay of Bose–Einstein condensates with long-range interaction

We apply transition state theory to coupled Gaussian wave packets and calculate thermal decay rates of Bose–Einstein condensates with additional long-range interaction. The ground state of such a condensate is metastable if the contact interaction is attractive and a sufficient thermal excitation may lead to its collapse. The use of transition state theory is made possible by describing the condensate within a variational framework and locally mapping the variational parameters to classical phase space as has been demonstrated in the preceding paper (Junginger et al 2012 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 45 155201). We apply this procedure to Gaussian wave packets and present results for condensates with monopolar 1/r-interaction comparing decay rates obtained by using different numbers of coupled Gaussian trial wavefunctions as well as different normal form orders. PACS numbers: 67.85.Hj, 67.85.Jk, 03.75.Kk (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)