Formation and fragmentation of quantum droplets in a quasi-one-dimensional dipolar Bose gas

We theoretically investigate the droplets formation in a tightly trapped one-dimensional dipolar gas of bosonic atoms. When the strength of the dipolar interaction becomes sufficiently attractive compared to the contact one, we show how a solitoniclike density profile evolves into a liquidlike droplet on increasing the number of particles in the trap. The incipient gas-liquid transition is also signaled by a steep increase of the breathing mode and a change in sign of the chemical potential. Upon a sudden release of the trap, varying the number of trapped atoms and the scattering length, the numerical solution of a time-dependent generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation shows either an evaporation of the cloud, the formation of a single self-bound droplet, or a fragmentation in multiple droplets. These results can be probed with lanthanide atoms and help in characterizing the effect of the dipolar interaction in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry.