We present an investigation of the fast decompression of a three-dimensional (3D) Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at finite temperature using an engineered trajectory for the harmonic trapping potential. Taking advantage of the scaling invariance properties of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we exhibit a solution yielding a final state identical to that obtained through a perfectly adiabatic transformation, in a much shorter time. Experimentally, we perform a large trap decompression and displacement within a time comparable to the final radial trapping period. By simultaneously monitoring the BEC and the non-condensed fraction, we demonstrate that our specific trap trajectory is valid both for a quantum interacting many-body system and a classical ensemble of non-interacting particles.

We use boson-fermion mapping to show that the single-particle momentum distribution in a one-dimensional gas of hard point-like bosons (Tonks gas) inside a harmonic trap decays as $p^{-4}$ at large momentum $p$. The relevant integrals expressing the one-body density matrix are evaluated for small numbers of particles in a simple Monte Carlo approach to test the extent of the asymptotic law and to illustrate the slow decay of correlations between the matter-wave field at different points.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

We study, experimentally and theoretically, the controlled transfer of harmonically trapped ultracold gases between different quantum states. In particular we experimentally demonstrate a fast decompression and displacement of both a noninteracting gas and an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate which are initially at equilibrium. The decompression parameters are engineered such that the final state is identical to that obtained after a perfectly adiabatic transformation despite the fact that the fast decompression is performed in the strongly non-adiabatic regime. During the transfer the atomic sample goes through strongly out-of-equilibrium states while the external confinement is modified until the system reaches the desired stationary state. The scheme is theoretically based on the invariants of motion and scaling equations techniques and can be generalized to decompression trajectories including an arbitrary deformation of the trap. It is also directly applicable to arbitrary initial non-equilibrium states.