Dephasing in coherently split quasicondensates

We numerically model the evolution of a pair of coherently split quasicondensates. A truly one-dimensional case is assumed, so that the loss of the (initially high) coherence between the two quasicondensates is due to dephasing only, but not due to the violation of integrability and subsequent thermalization (which are excluded from the present model). We confirm the subexponential time evolution of the coherence between two quasicondensates ∝exp[-(t/t0)2/3], experimentally observed by Hofferberth et al. [Nature 449, 324 (2007)]. The characteristic time t0 is found to scale as the square of the ratio of the linear density of a quasicondensate to its temperature, and we analyze the full distribution function of the interference contrast and the decay of the phase correlation.