title: Approximated center-of-mass motion for systems of interacting particles with space- and velocity-dependent friction and anharmonic potential.
abstract: We study the center-of-mass motion in systems of trapped interacting particles with space- and velocity-dependent friction and anharmonic traps. Our approach, based on a dynamical ansatz assuming a fixed density profile, allows us to obtain information at once for a wide range of binary interactions and interaction strengths, at linear and nonlinear levels. Our findings are first tested on different simple models by comparison with direct numerical simulations. Then, we apply the method to characterize the motion of the center of mass of a magneto-optical trap and its dependence on the number of trapped atoms. Our predictions are compared with experiments performed on a large Rb(85) magneto-optical trap.
authors.affiliation: Cité mixte du Parc Impérial, 2 Avenue Paul Arène, 06050 Nice Cedex, France and Laboratoire J. A. Dieudonné, UMR CNRS 6621, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Parc Valrose, F-06108 Nice Cedex 02, France.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olivetti
authors.affiliation: Institut Non Lineaire de Nice, UMR 7335, 1361 route des Lucioles, F-06560 Valbonne, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Labeyrie
authors.affiliation: Institut Non Lineaire de Nice, UMR 7335, 1361 route des Lucioles, F-06560 Valbonne, France.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaiser