Spin-orbit coupled spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate flow past an obstacle in the presence of a Zeeman field

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex dynamics of a spin-orbit coupled spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate under a Zeeman field disturbed by a moving obstacle, revealing vortex structures and topological states with stability analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of vortex and skyrmion-like structures in spin-1 BECs under combined spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman fields, including stability and excitation spectrum insights.

Findings

Vortex cores align vertically under x-directed Zeeman field

Skyrmion-like vortex states can be induced by static obstacles

Topological structures remain stable at low obstacle velocities

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a Rashba spin-orbit coupled spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate under a linear Zeeman magnetic field(ZF) disturbed by a moving obstacle. The Bogoliubov excitation spectrums and corresponding critical excitations in different situations are analyzed. The structure of the coreless vortex or antivortex generated by the moving obstacle has been investigated. When the ZF is applied along x direction, the vortex cores for the three components of a(an) vortex(antivortex) could be arranged into a vertical line, and their order would be reversed as the spin-orbit coupling increases. When the ZF is parallel to z direction, a skyrmion-like vortex ground state could be induced even by a static obstacle. This topological structure is also found to be dynamically stable if the obstacle is moving at a relatively small velocity.