Three-dimensional dynamics of vortex lattice formation in Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper presents a three-dimensional simulation study of vortex lattice formation in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates, revealing new dynamical features and the role of Kelvin waves during vortex nucleation.

Contribution

It introduces a 3D simulation of vortex formation in BECs including dissipation, uncovering the turbulent stage and Kelvin wave excitations not previously characterized.

Findings

Identification of a turbulent vortex nucleation stage

Observation of rapid vortex line vibrations due to Kelvin waves

Surface wave instability driven by density inhomogeneity

Abstract

We numerically study the dynamics of vortex lattice formation in a rotating cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate. The study is a three-dimensional simulation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a phenomenological dissipation term. The simulations reveal previously unknown dynamical features of the vortex nucleation process, in which the condensate undergoes a strongly turbulent stage and the penetrating vortex lines vibrate rapidly. The vibrations arise from spontaneous excitation of Kelvin waves on the proto-vortices during a surface wave instability, caused by an inhomogeneity of the condensate density along the elongated axial direction.