Nucleation of Spontaneous Vortices in Trapped Fermi Gases Undergoing a BCS-BEC Crossover

TL;DR

This paper investigates how vortices spontaneously form in a trapped fermionic superfluid during a rapid cooling process, analyzing the dynamics across the BCS-BEC crossover using numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical approach to study vortex nucleation during superfluid condensation in fermionic gases across the BCS-BEC crossover.

Findings

Vortex formation is more prominent near the BEC regime.

Condensate density increases lead to supercurrents and oscillations.

Results are potentially observable experimentally.

Abstract

We study the spontaneous formation of vortices during the superfluid condensation in a trapped fermionic gas subjected to a rapid thermal quench via evaporative cooling. Our work is based on the numerical solution of the time dependent crossover Ginzburg-Landau equation coupled to the heat diffusion equation. We quantify the evolution of condensate density and vortex length as a function of a crossover phase parameter from BCS to BEC. The more interesting phenomena occur somewhat nearer to the BEC regime and should be experimentally observable; during the propagation of the cold front, the increase in condensate density leads to the formation of supercurrents towards the center of the condensate as well as possible condensate volume oscillations.