Persistent superfluid flow arising from the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect in molecular dipolar condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect can generate persistent superfluid flow in molecular dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates confined in a toroidal trap, with potential for experimental observation.

Contribution

It introduces a method to induce persistent flow via the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect in molecular condensates and discusses experimental setups for observation.

Findings

He-McKellar-Wilkens effect induces persistent flow in molecular BECs.

Electric dipole interactions enable superfluid flow in toroidal traps.

Experimental geometry proposed for observing the effect.

Abstract

We show that the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect can induce a persistent flow in a Bose-Einstein condensate of polar molecules confined in a toroidal trap, with the dipolar interaction mediated via an electric dipole moment. For Bose-Einstein condensates of atoms with a magnetic dipole moment, we show that although it is theoretically possible to induce persistent flow via the Aharonov-Casher effect, the strength of electric field required is prohibitive. We also outline an experimental geometry tailored specifically for observing the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect in toroidally-trapped condensates.