Example of a Quantum Anomaly in the Physics of Ultracold Gases

Abstract

In this Letter, we propose an experimental scheme for the observation of a quantum anomaly\char22{}quantum-mechanical symmetry breaking\char22{}in a two-dimensional harmonically trapped Bose gas. The anomaly manifests itself in a shift of the monopole excitation frequency away from the value dictated by the Pitaevskii-Rosch dynamical symmetry [L.\,P. Pitaevskii and A. Rosch, Phys. Rev. A 55, R853 (1997)]. While the corresponding classical Gross-Pitaevskii equation and the hydrodynamic equations derived from it do exhibit this symmetry, it is\char22{}as we show in our paper\char22{}violated under quantization. The resulting frequency shift is of the order of 1% of the carrier, well in reach for modern experimental techniques. We propose using the dipole oscillations as a frequency gauge.