Structure formation during the collapse of a dipolar atomic Bose-Einstein condensate

We investigate the collapse of a trapped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate. This is performed by numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and the novel application of the Thomas-Fermi hydrodynamic equations to collapse. We observe regimes of both global collapse, where the system evolves to a highly elongated or flattened state depending on the sign of the dipolar interaction, and local collapse, which arises due to dynamically …