Inhomogeneous Spin Diffusion in Traps with Cold Atoms

The spin diusion and damped oscillations are studied in the collision of two spin polarized clouds of cold atoms with resonant interactions. The strong density dependence of the diusion coecient leads to inhomogeneous spin diusion that changes from central to surface spin ow as the temperature increases.

The inhomogeneity and the smaller nite trap size signicantly reduce the spin diusion rate at low temperatures. The resulting spin diusion rates and spin drag at longer time scales are compatible with measurements at low to high temperatures for resonant attractive interactions but are incompatible with a metastable ferromagnetic phase.

This does not exclude that the colliding clouds can evolve into a repulsive initial state which subsequently decays during the bounce and the initial damped oscillations.