No-soliton--soliton phase transition in a trapped one-dimensional Bose gas

Following the experimental observation of bright matter-wave solitons [L. Khaykovich et al., Science v. 296, 1290 (2002); K. E. Strecker et al., Nature (London) v. 417, 150 (2002)], we develop a semi-phenomenological theory for soliton thermodynamics and find the condensation temperature. Under a modified thermodynamic limit, the condensate occupation at the critical temperature undergoes a sudden jump to a nonzero value, indicating a discontinuous phase transition. Treating the condensation as a diffusion over a barrier shows that the condensation time is exponentially long as one approaches the thermodynamic limit, and the longest near the critical temperature.