Vortex nucleation in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper investigates how vortices form and behave in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates, showing that vortex stability depends on rotational frequency and revealing hysteresis phenomena.

Contribution

It provides new insights into vortex stability thresholds and hysteresis effects in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates.

Findings

Off-center vortices are unstable.

Centered vortices become stable at higher rotation rates.

Hysteresis effects are observed in vortex formation.

Abstract

We study the formation and stability of a single vortex state in a weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate that is confined in a rotating harmonic potential. Our results are consistent with the fact that any single off-center vortex is unstable. Furthermore, a vortex state located at the center of the cloud first becomes locally stable as the rotational frequency increases. Finally our study implies the existence of hysteresis effects.