Magnon condensation into a Q ball in 3He-B.
The theoretical prediction of Q balls in relativistic quantum fields is realized here experimentally in superfluid 3He-B. The condensed-matter analogs of relativistic Q balls are responsible for an extremely long-lived signal of magnetic induction observed in NMR at the lowest temperatures. This Q ball is another representative of a state with phase coherent precession of nuclear spins in 3He-B, similar to the well-known homogeneously precessing domain, which we interpret as Bose-Einstein condensation of spin waves--magnons. At large charge Q, the effect of self-localization is observed. In the language of relativistic quantum fields it is caused by interaction between the charged and neutral fields, where the neutral field provides the potential for the charged one. In the process of self-localization the charged field modifies locally the neutral field so that the potential well is formed in which the charge Q is condensed.
Institute Neel, CNRS-UJF, Grenoble, France.
Yu M
YM
Bunkov
G E
GE
Volovik