Hysteresis and persistent currents in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate with anharmonic confinement

TL;DR

This paper investigates hysteresis and persistent currents in a rotating Bose-Einstein condensate with anharmonic confinement, revealing metastable states and potential for studying phase transitions in such systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of metastable states and hysteresis in a rotating BEC with quadratic-plus-quartic potential, highlighting new phenomena in anharmonic traps.

Findings

States of different circulation can be metastable.

The gas exhibits hysteresis as rotation frequency varies.

System may serve as a platform for studying phase transitions.

Abstract

We examine a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms that rotates in a quadratic-plus-quartic potential. It is shown that states of different circulation can be metastable. As a result, we demonstrate that the gas can exhibit hysteresis as the angular frequency of rotation of the trap is varied. The simplicity of the picture that emerges for small coupling strengths suggests that this system may be attractive for studies of phase transitions.