Quantum phases of dipolar spinor condensates.

We study the zero-temperature ground state structure of a spin-1 condensate with magnetic dipole-dipole interactions. We show that the dipolar interactions break the rotational symmetry of the Hamiltonian and induce new quantum phases. Different phases can be reached by tuning the effective strength of the dipolar interactions via modifying the trapping geometry. The experimental feasibility of detecting these phases is investigated. The spin-mixing dynamics is also studied. Copyright 2004 The American Physical Society