Rotons in Interacting Ultracold Bose Gases

In three dimensions, noninteracting bosons undergo Bose-Einstein condensation at a critical temperature, Tc, which is slightly shifted by ΔTc, if the particles interact. We calculate the excitation spectrum of interacting Bose systems, 4He and 87Rb, and show that a roton minimum emerges in the spectrum above a threshold value of the gas parameter. We provide a general theoretical argument for why the roton minimum and the maximal upward critical temperature shift are related. We also suggest two experimental avenues to observe rotons in condensates. These results, based upon a path-integral Monte Carlo approach, provide a microscopic explanation of the shift in the critical temperature and also show that a roton minimum does emerge in the excitation spectrum of particles with a structureless, short-range, two-body interaction.