Acoustic analog of Hawking radiation in quantized circular superflows of Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

We propose emulation of Hawking radiation by means of acoustic excitations propagating on top of a persistent current in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate loaded in an annular confining potential. The setting admits realization of sonic black and white event horizons. It is found that density-density correlations, representing the acoustic analogue of the Hawking radiation, are strongly affected by the perimeter of the ring-shaped configuration and number of discrete acoustic modes admitted by it. Remarkably, there is a minimum radius of the ring which admits the emulation of the Hawking radiation. We also discuss a possible similarity of properties of the matter-wave sonic black holes to the known puzzle of the stability of Planck-scale primordial black holes in quantum gravity.