We investigate the nonlinear self-trapping phenomenon of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a symmetric double well, emphasizing its underlying dynamical phase transition. As the nonlinear parameter characterizing the interaction between the degenerate atoms increases, the BEC becomes self-trapped, manifesting an asymmetric distribution of the atomic density profile. The essence of this phenomenon is revealed to be a continuous phase transition and the underlying critical behavior is studied analytically and found to follow a logarithmic scaling law. We then go beyond the mean-field treatment and extend our treatment to discuss the effect of many-body quantum fluctuations on the transition. It is found that the transition point is shifted and the scaling law is broken. In particular, the quantum phase transition is accompanied by a change of the entanglement entropy, which is found to reach a maximum at the transition point. The underlying physics is revealed.

• Received 18 September 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.74.063614