Space-time curvature signatures in Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

We derive a generalized Gross-Pitaevski (GP) equation for a Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC) immersed in a weak gravitational field starting from the covariant Complex Klein-Gordon field in a curved space-time. We compare it with the traditional GP equation where the gravitational field is added by hand as an external potential. We show that there is a small difference of order gz/c 2 between them that could be measured in the future using Bose-Einstein Condensates. This represents the next order correction to the Newtonian gravity in a curved space-time.