Atomic Scattering in the Presence of an External Confinement and a Gas of Impenetrable Bosons

Abstract

We calculate, within the pseudopotential approximation, a one-dimensional scattering amplitude and effective one-dimensional interaction potential for atoms confined transversally by an atom waveguide or highly elongated ``cigar''-shaped atomic trap. We show that, in the low-energy scattering regime, the scattering process degenerates to a total reflection, suggesting an experimental realization of a famous model in theoretical physics---a one-dimensional gas of impenetrable bosons (``Tonks'' gas). We give an estimate for suitable experimental parameters for alkali atoms confined in waveguides.