Motion of dark solitons in a non-uniform flow of Bose–Einstein condensate

Abstract

We study motion of dark solitons in a non-uniform one-dimensional flow of a Bose–Einstein condensate. Our approach is based on Hamiltonian mechanics applied to the particle-like behavior of dark solitons in a slightly non-uniform and slowly changing surrounding. In one-dimensional geometry, the condensate’s wave function undergoes the jump-like behavior across the soliton, and this leads to generation of the counterflow in the background condensate. For a correct description of soliton’s dynamics, the contributions of this counterflow to the momentum and energy of the soliton are taken into account. The resulting Hamilton equations are reduced to the Newton-like equation for the soliton’s path, and this Newton equation is solved in several typical situations. The analytical results are confirmed by numerical calculations.