Exciting temporal oscillations of the density distribution is a high-precision method for probing ultracold trapped atomic gases. Interaction effects in their many-body dynamics are particularly puzzling and counter-intuitive in one spatial dimension (1D) due to enhanced quantum correlations. We consider 1D quantum Bose gas in a parabolic trap at zero temperature and explain, analytically and numerically, how oscillation frequency depends on the number of particles, their repulsion, and the trap strength. We identify the frequency with the energy difference between the ground state and a particular excited state. This way we avoided resolving the dynamical evolution of the system, simplifying the problem immensely. We find an excellent quantitative agreement of our results with the data from the Innsbruck experiment [Science 325, 1224 (2009)].

• Received 5 April 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.021601