Sonic black holes in dilute Bose-Einstein condensates

The sonic analog of a gravitational black hole in dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates is investigated. It is shown that there exist both dynamically stable and unstable configurations which, in the hydrodynamic limit, exhibit behaviors completely analogous to that of gravitational black holes. The dynamical instabilities involve the creation of quasiparticle pairs in positive and negative energy states. We illustrate these features in two qualitatively different one-dimensional models, namely, a long, thin condensate with an outcoupler laser beam providing an ``atom sink,'' and a tight ring-shaped condensate. We also simulate the creation of a stable sonic black hole by solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation numerically for a condensate subject to a trapping potential which is adiabatically deformed. A sonic black hole could, in this way, be created experimentally with state-of-the-art or planned technology.