Stable Hopf solitons in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that stable Hopf solitons, complex topological vortex structures, can be realized and maintained in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates under realistic experimental conditions.

Contribution

It shows the existence and stability of Hopf solitons in rotating BECs, a novel topological matter-wave structure not previously demonstrated.

Findings

Hopf solitons can be stabilized in rotating BECs.

Different unstable evolution scenarios of Hopfions are observed.

Hopf solitons are energetically and dynamically stable under feasible conditions.

Abstract

We reveal that Hopf solitons can be stabilized in rotating atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The Hopfion is a matter-wave vortex complex which carries two independent winding numbers. Such a topological solitonic structure results from a superfluid flow of atoms simultaneously quantized in poloidal and toroidal directions. In the framework of a dissipative mean-field model we observe different unstable evolution scenarios of the Hopfions. We demonstrate energetic and dynamical stability of the Hopf solitons under experimentally feasible conditions.