Dilute Bose gas with correlated disorder: a path integral Monte Carlo study

Abstract

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a dilute Bose gas in a correlated random potential using exact path integral Monte Carlo methods. The study is carried out in continuous space and disorder is produced in the simulations by a three-dimensional (3D) speckle pattern with tunable intensity and correlation length. We calculate the shift of the superfluid transition temperature due to disorder and we highlight the role of quantum localization by comparing the critical chemical potential with the classical percolation threshold. The equation of state of the gas is determined in the regime of strong disorder, where superfluidity is suppressed and the normal phase exists down to very low temperatures. We find a T2 dependence of the energy in agreement with the expected behavior in the Bose glass phase. We also discuss the major role played by the disorder correlation length and we make contact with a Hartree–Fock mean-field approach that holds if the correlation length is very large. The density profiles are analyzed as a function of temperature and interaction strength. Effects of localization and the depletion of the order parameter are emphasized in the comparison between local condensate and total density. At very low temperature, we find that the energy and the particle distribution of the gas are very well described by the T=0 Gross–Pitaevskii theory, even in the regime of very strong disorder.