Theoretical work on ultracold atoms completed by undergraduate Harry Han and published in Physical Review A

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Senior physics major Harry Han recently completed work for a publication entitled Generalized gradient expansion for inhomogeneous dynamical mean-field theory: Application to ultracold atoms in a harmonic trap, which originally began as a GUROP project with Prof. Freericks in 2014. This work goes beyond a common approximation called the local density approximation and provides a quantitative test to determine when the local density approximation is accurate. It can be applied to nearly all experiments on atoms in traps, and hence, may help in the creation of a quantum computer from ultracold atoms. The article can be found at 10.1103/PhysRevA.94.023614. Harry will continue to work on his thesis this year with Prof. Freericks.