The presence of (approximate) conservation laws can prohibit the fast relaxation of interacting many-particle quantum systems. We investigate this physics by studying the center-of-mass oscillations of two species of fermionic ultracold atoms in a harmonic trap. If their trap frequencies are equal, a dynamical symmetry (spectrum-generating algebra), closely related to Kohn's theorem, prohibits the relaxation of center-of-mass oscillations. A small detuning $\delta \omega$ of the trap frequencies for the two species breaks the dynamical symmetry and ultimately leads to a damping of dipole oscillations driven by interspecies interactions. Using memory-matrix methods, we calculate the relaxation as a function of frequency difference, particle number, temperature, and strength of interspecies interactions. When interactions dominate, there is almost perfect drag between the two species and the dynamical symmetry is approximately restored. The drag can either arise from Hartree potentials or from friction. In the latter case (hydrodynamic limit), the center-of-mass oscillations decay with a tiny rate, $1/\tau \propto {\left(\delta \omega \right)}^2/\mathrm{\Gamma }$, where $\mathrm{\Gamma }$ is a single-particle scattering rate.

• Received 16 April 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.91.063604