The work of this thesis is guided by the Analogue Gravity research programme, in which condensed matter systems are used as analogues of the physics of curved spacetimes to obtain new perspectives on open problems of gravitational physics. Here we use this idea to investigate the phenomenon of superradiance, most famously occurring in rotating black hole spacetimes, using as an analogue system atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Superradiance is a radiation enhancement phenomenon in which waves of different kind are scattered with an increased amplitude by extracting energy from the object they are scattering on. In this thesis on the one hand we use the gravitational analogy to understand better superradiance starting from easier analogue setups, and on the other hand we use concepts coming from superradiance to learn something about the physics of BECs. We first present a (possibly realizable) toy model, built using the tools of synthetic gauge fields for neutral atoms, to provide a new and conceptually simple illustration of superradiant scattering. This toy model allows to disentangle the different elements at play and highlight the basic mechanisms of superradiance and has also the interesting feature of being exactly mappable to a scattering problem of a charged scalar field on an electrostatic potential. We also show how at the quantum level, superradiance implies the spontaneous emission of pairs of excitations. The low temperatures of atomic condensates can make these quantum features visible and we propose a way of detecting them via correlation measurements. Another realization of this toy model can also be built using periodic trapping potentials for the atoms. By changing the boundary conditions of the acoustic excitations of the condensate we show how superradiance can give rise to dynamical instabilities. Our toy model gives a simple illustration of superradiant instabilities occurring in rotating gravitational spacetimes, in particular ergoregion instabilities and black hole bombs. It also provides a realization of the analogous instabilities involving a charged scalar field, called the Schiff-Snyder-Weinberg effect. Our approach naturally shows how amplified scattering can also occur in the presence of dynamical instabilities, a point often object of confusion in the literature. Moreover, we add an acoustic horizon to our toy model and show that, differently from what happens in general relativity, horizons do not always prevent the presence of ergoregion instabilities. We then apply these concepts to the study of the stability of quantized vortices in two-dimensional BECs. With a careful account of boundary conditions, we show that the dynamical instability of multiply quantized vortices in trapped condensates persists in untrapped, spatially homogeneous geometries and has an ergoregion nature with some modification due to the peculiar dispersion of Bogoliubov sound. Our results open new perspectives to the physics of vortices in trapped condensates, where multiply quantized vortices can be stabilized by interference effects and singly charged vortices can become unstable in suitably designed trap potentials. We show how superradiant scattering can be observed also in the short-time dynamics of dynamically unstable systems, providing an alternative point of view on dynamical (in)stability phenomena in spatially finite systems. Finally we consider the equivalent of a shear layer between parallel flows in hydrodynamics, but in a BEC. In the present case the shear layer is constituted by and array of quantized vortices that are shown to develop an instability analogous to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. When the relative velocity between the two parallel flow is sufficiently large however, this instability is quenched and substituted by a slower instability that has the features of the superradiant instabilities we studied. Differently from superradiant instabilities, this one also remains with open boundary conditions on the two sides of the shear layer, and manifests itself as a continuous emission of phonons in both directions; we call this new regime radiative instability.

Le projet de recherche consiste à observer en laboratoire la radiation de Hawking, cette prédiction stupéfiante de l'astrophysicien anglais Stephen Hawking faite en 1974 : les trous noirs ne sont pas noirs. Autrement dit, ils n'absorbent pas tout ce qui est à leur portée mais émettent un rayonnement. En plus des complications du fait que ces objets célestes sont à des milliers d'années-lumière, ce rayonnement est tellement faible que cela reviendrait à essayer d'entendre un murmure dans un concert de rock. Mais William Unruh, en 1981, a proposé une solution : utiliser des systèmes hydrodynamiques qui présentent les mêmes équations mathématiques qu'en astrophysique. Plus précisément, dans notre cas, nous utilisons la correspondance entre la propagation des ondes lumineuses au voisinage d'un trou noir et celles des ondes de surface dans un contre-courant rendu inhomogène par la présence d'un obstacle immergé. Pour cela, une compréhension approfondie de la mécanique des ondes de surface est nécessaire (bathymétrie variable, vorticité, non-linéarités…). Du côté technique, une méthode de mesure de surface libre a été développée et optimisée. / The aim of the PhD is the observation the Hawking radiation in the laboratory, this astounding prediction of the English astrophysicist Stephen Hawking made in 1974: black holes are not black. In other words, they do not absorb anything within reach but emit a radiation. In addition to the complications of the fact that these celestial objects are thousands of light years away, this radiation is so weak that it would be like trying to hear a whisper in a rock concert. But William Unruh, in 1981, proposed a solution: to use hydrodynamic systems which have the same mathematical equations as in astrophysics. More precisely, in our case, we use the correspondence between the propagation of light in the vicinity of a black hole and surface waves propagation on a inhomogeneous countercurrent (due to the presence of a submerged obstacle). For this, a thorough understanding of the surface waves physics is necessary (variable bathymetry, vorticity, non-linearities ...). On the technical side, a free surface measurement method has been developed and optimized.

We study the application of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) to simulations of phenomena across a number of disciplines in physics, using theoretical and computational methods. ¶ Collapsing condensates as created by E. Donley et al. [Nature 415, 39 (2002)] exhibit potentially useful parallels to an inflationary universe. To enable the exploitation of this analogy, we check if current quantum field theories describe collapsing condensates quantitatively, by targeting the discrepancy between experimental and theoretical values for the time to collapse. To this end, we couple the lowest order quantum field correlation functions to the condensate wavefunction, and solve the resulting Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations numerically. Complementarily, we perform stochastic truncated Wigner simulations of the collapse. Both methods also allow us to study finite temperature effects. ¶ We find with neither method that quantum corrections lead to a faster collapse than is predicted by Gross-Pitaevskii theory. We conclude that the discrepancy between the experimental and theoretical values of the collapse time cannot be explained by Gaussian quantum fluctuations or finite temperature effects. Further studies are thus required before the full analogue cosmology potential of collapsing condensates can be utilised. ¶ As the next project, we find experimental parameter regimes in which stable three-dimensional Skyrmions can exist in a condensate. We show that their stability in a harmonic trap depends critically on scattering lengths, atom numbers, trap rotation and trap anisotropy. In particular, for the Rb87 |F=1,m_f=-1>, |F=2,m_f=1> hyperfine states, stability is sensitive to the scattering lengths at the 2% level. We find stable Skyrmions with slightly more than 2*10^6 atoms, which can be stabilised against drifting out of the trap by laser pinning. ¶ As a stepping stone towards Skyrmions, we propose a method for the stabilisation of a stack of parallel vortex rings in a Bose-Einstein condensate. The method makes use of a ``hollow'' laser beam containing an optical vortex, which realises an optical tunnel for the condensate. Using realistic experimental parameters, we demonstrate numerically that our method can stabilise up to 9 vortex rings. ¶ Finally, we focus on analogue gravity, further exploiting the analogy between flowing condensates and general relativistic curved space time. We compare several realistic setups, investigating their suitability for the observation of analogue Hawking radiation. We link our proposal of stable ring flows to analogue gravity, by studying supersonic flows in the optical tunnel. We show that long-living immobile condensate solitons generated in the tunnel exhibit sonic horizons, and discuss whether these could be employed to study extreme cases in analogue gravity. ¶ Beyond these, our survey indicates that for conventional analogue Hawking radiation, simple outflow from a condensate reservoir, in effectively one dimension, has the best properties. We show with three dimensional simulations that stable sonic horizons exist under realistic conditions. However, we highlight that three-body losses impose limitations on the achievable analogue Hawking temperatures. These limitations vary between the atomic species and favour light atoms. ¶ Our results indicate that Bose-Einstein condensates will soon be useful for interdisciplinary studies by analogy, but also show that the experiments will be challenging.

Hawking radiation, despite its presence in theoretical physics for over thirty years, remains elusive and undetected. It also suffers, in its original context of gravitational black holes, from conceptual difficulties. Of particular note is the trans-Planckian problem, which is concerned with the apparent origin of the radiation in absurdly high frequencies. In order to gain better theoretical understanding and, it is hoped, experimental verification of Hawking radiation, much study is being devoted to systems which model the spacetime geometry of black holes, and which, by analogy, are also thought to emit Hawking radiation. These analogue systems typically exhibit dispersion, which regularizes the wave behaviour at the horizon but does not lend itself well to analytic treatment, thus rendering Hawking’s prediction less secure. A general analytic method for dealing with Hawking radiation in dispersive systems has proved difficult to find. This thesis presents new numerical and analytic results for Hawking emission spectra in dispersive systems. It examines two black-hole analogue systems: it begins by introducing the well-known acoustic model, presenting some original results in that context; then, through analogy with the acoustic model, goes on to develop the lesser-known fibre-optical model. The following original results are presented in the context of both of these models: • an analytic expression for the low-frequency temperature is found for a hyperbolic tangent background profile, valid in the entire parameter space; it is well-known that the spectrum is approximately thermal at low frequencies, but a universally valid expression for the corresponding temperature is an original development; • an analytic expression for the spectrum, valid over almost the entire frequency range, when the velocity profile parameters lie in the regime where the low-frequency temperature is given by the Hawking prediction; previous work has focused on the low-frequency thermal spectrum and the characterization of the deviations from thermality, rather than a single analytic expression; and • a new unexplored regime where no group-velocity horizon exists is examined; the Hawking spectra are found to be non-zero here, but also highly non-thermal, and are found, in the limit of small deviations, to vary with the square of the maximum deviation; the analytic expression for the case with a horizon is found to carry over to this new regime, with appropriate modifications. Furthermore, the thesis examines the results of a classical frequency-shifting experiment in the context of fibre-optical horizons. The theory of this process is presented for both a constant-velocity and a constantly-decelerating pulse, the latter case taking account of the Raman effect. The resulting spectra are at least qualititively explained, but there is a discrepancy between theory and experiment that has not yet been accounted for.

Dumb holes (also known as acoustic black holes) are fluid flows which include an "acoustic horizon:" a surface, analogous to a gravitational horizon, beyond which sound may pass but never classically return. Soundwaves in these flows will therefore experience "effective geometries" which are identical to black hole spacetimes up to a conformal factor. By adjusting the parameters of the fluid flow, it is possible to create an effective geometry which is conformal to the Anti-de Sitter black hole spacetime- a geometry which has recieved a great deal of attention in recent years due to its conjectured holographic duality to Conformal Field Theories. While we would not expect an acoustic analogue of the AdS-CFT correspondence to exist, this dumb hole provides a means, at least in principle, of experimentally testing the theoretical properties of the AdS spacetime. In particular, I have calculated the quasinormal mode spectrum of this acoustic geometry. / Graduate / 0986 / 0753 / jpbabb@yahoo.ca

Au long de ce manuscrit de thèse je présenterai des effets non linéaires émergents dans les condensats d'exciton-polaritons spineurs. Après un chapitre d'introduction amenant les notions de bases nécessaires, je me concentrerai dans une première partie sur les défauts topologiques quantifiés par des nombres demi-entiers et discuterai leur stabilité, accélération et nucléation en présence de champs magnétiques effectifs. Nous verrons que ces objets se comportent comme des charges magnétiques manipulables démontrant une analogie fascinante avec les monopoles de Dirac. De manière remarquable nous verrons également que ces objets peuvent être utilisés comme des signaux stables pour sonder la physique d'analogues acoustiques de trous noirs. Dans une seconde partie j'étudierai des structures de basse dimensions. Plus particulièrement, je décrirai la formation de solitons de bande interdite et les oscillations de Bloch des exciton-polaritons dans des microfils comportant des structures périodiques et d'autre part les oscillations Josephson à température ambiante dans des paires de micropilliers couplés. / Along this thesis manuscript I shall present some emergent nonlinear phenomena in spinor exciton polariton condensates. After an introductory chapter bringing the necessary background, I will in a first part focus on half-integer topological defects discussing their stability, acceleration and nucleation in the presence of effective magnetic fields. We will see that these objects behave as magnetic charges being fascinating dirac's monopole analogues. Remarkably we will see as well how they can be used as stable signals allowing to seed the physics acoustic black holes analogues. In a second part I will concentrate on low dimensional structures. Especially, I'll describe the formation of gap solitons and the Bloch oscillations of exciton-polaritons in periodically patterned microwires, and besides, the room temperature Josephson oscillations within pairs of coupled micropillars.

Les deux principales prédictions de la théorie quantique des champs en espace-temps courbe, à savoir la radiation de Hawking et la production de paires de particules ayant lieu dans un espace-temps non stationnaire, n'ont jamais été testé expérimentalement et impliquent toutes deux des processus à ultra haute énergie. En conséquence, de telles prédictions doivent être considérées prudemment. En utilisant l'analogie avec des systèmes de matière condensée mise en avant par Unruh, leur analogue pourrait être testé en laboratoire. Par ailleurs, dispersion et dissipation sont toujours présentes dans de tels systèmes, ce qui régularise la théorie à courte distances. Lors d'expériences destinées à tester les prédictions citées ci-dessus, le bruit thermique modifiera le résultat. En effet, il existe une compétition entre l'émission stimulée dudit bruit thermique et l'émission spontanée issue du vide quantique. Afin de mesurer la radiation de Hawking analogue et de l'analogue des productions de paires (souvent appelé effet Casimir dynamique), il est alors nécessaire de calculer les conséquence de la dispersion et de la dissipation, ainsi que d'identifier des observables permettant de certifier que l'amission spontanée a eu lieu. Dans cette thèse, nous analyserons d'abord les effets de la dispersion et de la dissipation à la fois sur la radiation de Hawking et sur la production de paires de particules. Afin d'obtenir des résultats explicites, nous travaillerons avec l'espace-temps de de Sitter. Les symétries de la théorie nous permettront d'obtenir des résultats exacts. Ceux-ci seront alors appliqués aux trous noirs grâce aux ressemblances entre la région proche du trou noir et l'espace de de Sitter. Afin d’introduire de la dissipation, nous considérerons un modèle exactement soluble permettant de modéliser n'importe quel taux de dissipation. Dans un tel modèle, le champ est couplé de manière linéaire à un environnement contenant un ensemble dense de degrés de liberté. Dans un tel contexte, nous étudierons l'intrication des particules produites. Ensuite, nous considérerons des systèmes de matière condensée spécifiques, à savoir les condensats de Bose et les polaritons. Nous analyserons les effets de la dissipation sur l'intrication de l’effet Casimir dynamique. Enfin, nous étudieront de manière générique l'intrication de la radiation de Hawking en présence de dispersion pour des systèmes analogues. / The two main predictions of quantum field theory in curved space-time, namely Hawking radiation and cosmological pair production, have not been directly tested and involve ultra high energy configurations. As a consequence, they should be considered with caution. Using the analogy with condensed matter systems put forward by Unruh, their analogue versions could be tested in the lab. Moreover, the high energy behavior of these systems is known and involved dispersion and dissipation, which regulate the theory at short distances. When considering experiments which aim to test the above predictions, the thermal noise will contaminate the outcome. Indeed, there will be a competition between the stimulated emission from thermal noise and the spontaneous emission out of vacuum. In order to measure the quantum analogue Hawking radiation, or the analogue pair production also called dynamical Casimir effect, one should thus compute the consequences of ultraviolet dispersion and dissipation, and identify observables able to establish that the spontaneous emission took place. In this thesis, we first analyze the effects of dispersion and dissipation on both Hawking radiation and pair particle production. To get explicit results, we work in the context of de Sitter space. Using the extended symmetries of the theory in such a background, exact results are obtained. These are then transposed to the context of black holes using the correspondence between de Sitter space and the black hole near horizon region. To introduce dissipation, we consider an exactly solvable model producing any decay rate. In such a model, the field is linearly coupled to an environment containing a dense set of degrees of freedom. We also study the quantum entanglement of the particles so produced. In a second part, we consider explicit condensed matter systems, namely Bose Einstein condensates and exciton-polariton systems. We analyze the effects of dissipation on entanglement produced by the dynamical Casimir effect. As a final step, we study the entanglement of Hawking radiation in the presence of dispersion for a generic analogue system.