Spontaneous symmetry breaking induced by interaction in linearly coupled binary Bose–Einstein condensates

Abstract

The spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) induced by a specific component of a linearly coupled binary Bose–Einstein condensate was analyzed. The model is based on linearly coupled Schrödinger equations with cubic nonlinearity and double-well potential acting on only one of the atomic components. By numerical simulations, symmetric and asymmetric ground states were obtained, and an induced asymmetry in the partner field was observed. In this sense, it is adequately demonstrated that the linear coupling mixing the two-field component (Rabi coupling) promotes the (in)balance between the atomic species, as well as the appearance of the Josephson and SSB phases.