Classifying Vortices in S=3 Bose-Einstein Condensates

TL;DR

This paper classifies the phases and vortex excitations of spin-3 Bose-Einstein condensates based on their scattering lengths and topological defect theory, providing a systematic framework for understanding their complex vortex structures.

Contribution

It introduces a classification scheme for phases and vortices in spin-3 condensates using reciprocal spinors and topological defect theory, extending previous methods.

Findings

Identified distinct phases based on scattering lengths.

Systematically described vortex types for each phase.

Extended reciprocal spinor classification to vortex structures.

Abstract

Motivated by the recent realization of a $^{52}$Cr Bose-Einstein condensate, we consider the phase diagram of a general spin-three condensate as a function of its scattering lengths. We classify each phase according to its ``reciprocal spinor,'' using a method developed in a previous work. We show that such a classification can be naturally extended to describe the vortices for a spinor condensate by using the topological theory of defects. To illustrate, we systematically describe the types of vortex excitations for each phase of the spin-three condensate.