Implosive Dynamics from Topological Quenches in Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates numerically that topological quenches in Bose-Einstein condensates can induce implosive dynamics, leading to density focusing and symmetry-breaking phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces topological engineering as a novel method to study implosive dynamics and symmetry-breaking in quantum fluids through controlled vortex manipulations.

Findings

A threshold in initial winding triggers implosive focusing.

Post-implosion dynamics form nonlinear wave fronts.

Symmetry breaking leads to polygonal vortex structures.

Abstract

We show numerically that a repulsive Bose-Einstein condensate can be driven into implosive dynamics by a direct topological quench. We first realize giant vortices by quasi-adiabatic phase imprinting, and then perform a sudden anti-imprint that cancels the accumulated winding in a single step, abruptly switching the condensate from a highly charged vortex state to the trivial sector. The resulting phase-density mismatch launches a rapid inward radial flow and produces a strong central density buildup, despite the repulsive interactions. We find a clear threshold in the initial winding for the onset of this focusing. After the first implosion, the dynamics evolves into circular nonlinear wave fronts that subsequently undergo breaking of azimuthal symmetry (axisymmetry) down to a polygonal one, whose shape is determined by the way the giant vortex is built. These results establish topological engineering as a new tool for studying implosive dynamics and symmetry-breaking instabilities in quantum fluids.