Atom-atom correlations in colliding Bose-Einstein condensates

We analyze atom-atom correlations in the s-wave scattering halo of two colliding condensates. By developing a simple perturbative approach, we obtain explicit analytic results for the collinear (CL) and back-to-back (BB) correlations corresponding to realistic density profiles of the colliding condensates with interactions. The results in the short-time limit are in agreement with the first-principles simulations using the positive-P representation and provide analytic insights into the experimental observations of Perrin et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 150405 (2007). For long collision durations, we predict that the BB correlation becomes broader than the CL correlation.