Nonlinear mixing of collective modes in harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We study nonlinear mixing effects among quadrupole modes and scissors modes in a harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. Using a perturbative technique in conjunction with a variational approach with a Gaussian trial wave function for the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we find that mode mixing occurs selectively. Our perturbative approach is useful in gaining a qualitative understanding of the recent experiment [M. Yamazaki et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 84, 44001 (2015)JUPSAU0031-901510.7566/JPSJ.84.044001], exhibiting a beating phenomenon of the scissors mode as well as a modulation phenomenon of the low-lying quadrupole mode by the high-lying quadrupole mode frequency. Within the second-order treatment of the nonlinear mode coupling terms, our approach predicts all the spectral peaks obtained by the numerical simulation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.