A Fermion-like description of condensed Bosons in a trap

Abstract

A Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms, trapped in an axially symmetric harmonic potential, is considered. By averaging the spatial density along the symmetry direction over a length that preserves the aspect ratio, the system may be mapped on to a zero temperature noninteracting Fermi-like gas. The "mock fermions'' have a state occupancy factor >> 1 proportional to the ratio of the coherance length to the "hard-core'' radius of the atom. The mapping reproduces the ground state properties of the condensate, and is used to estimate the vortex excitation energy analytically. The "mock-fermion'' description predicts some novel collective excitation in the condensed phase.